Make a Choice
by KemsShadow
Summary: What if Jack hadn't refused Pitch's offer to join his side? Now multiple-chapters. (Rated M for violence)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

So apologies ahead of time, first time writing a fic afterall heh. I'll keep this short since we all know that long rambling author notes are annoying so I'll get along with this then:

I own none of the parties included in this fic, all characters from Rise of the Guardians belonging to Dreamworks

This story was inspired by a picture I saw on tumblr; after I saw it on my dash and promptly freaked out at the thought of how the movie would have changed if such a thing happened. Go to my profile to see the image and original tumblr post as FFN is a twat and doesn't let us post links here.

(this may turn into a multi chapter thing if enough people ask, though most likely this will remain a one shot)

* * *

The arctic wind ripped at his skin, icy fingers tugging at his sweatshirt, trying to sweep him away from there. White hair was tousled as the strong winds howled about him, their screams trying and failing to communicate with the boy in their hold. They wanted to warn the ward that they had lifted and flown with over the centuries, to warn him of the danger of what he daring to consider. The boy ignored the wind, his old friend, and any attempts of it to tug him away, instead sighing and reaching inside the pocket of his faded, blue hoodie, drawing out the cool metal of the container of his baby teeth; his memories. Mutely he stared down at it, thumb absently tracing over the imprinted face so similar to his own, the expression one that absolutely screamed him, though the brown hair and eyes, so strange, so foreign, so _human_, it confused him, made him hesitate.

He was torn, part of him wanting so much to find out his past, who he had been, why he had been chosen. Why had the man in the moon left him like this, merely a myth to the humans, just a saying on their lips, invisible and untouched for centuries upon centuries? Had he done something, something that made the man in the moon make him like this? Not for the first time, he wondered if this fate he held was a gift or a curse. Sure, he could create snow with just a wave of his staff, paint frost designs on windows and mailboxes; he could soar high above the clouds and ride with the winds, and all of that was fantastic. But that power, such gifts, they came at a terrible price, to not be seen, not be touched, merely passed through like a common ghost, the feeling giving even _Jack _chills. He couldn't even remember being touched, being held by someone who cared for him, such things would be locked inside his memories, in the teeth. Sure there was one, bone shattering squeeze from North that the other had given back at his workshop, that had been contact.

Though, Jack quickly realized, North, and all of the other Guardians for that matter, they were just pretending, weren't they? Pretending to be nice to him, to want him because they wanted something _from _him, just wanted his ice and his frost to beat Pitch. After that they would likely kick him back out, leaving him alone again. Bunnymund himself had openly displayed his dislike towards Jack, how was the boy of ice and snow to know if the other's were merely better at masking their dislike, their _hatred _towards him? Images arose in his mind, pictures of Tooth looking at him with utter disgust and contempt, even Baby Tooth chirping out in hate before turning and leaving him as well. North scowling down at him, telling him he had no center, that he was worthless and weak, just a misbehaving child with more power than he could handle. Sandman…Sandman was dead, it was all Jack's fault; even if the other was back somehow, Jack was positive that the golden man would hate Jack, hate him for failing, for not getting his back, for leaving him to die at Pitch's hand.

Jack quickly shook his head, gasping in emotional pain as the scenes continued to play in his mind, all the while oblivious to the few, unnoticeable pieces of Pitch's nightmare sand that slowly revolved above his head, fueling the fear-ridden images.

Finally, some of the sand drifted away on the wind, the images in Jack's mind fading; he gasped, slumping to his knees, trembling slightly, hurt with his new found revelation. His fingers tightened on the golden case in his fingers, both hands securely gripping the thing now, his staff having dropped to the snow-ridden ground. He stared down at it, almost fearfully, wondering what _would_ happen if he opened it. Opened it and brought back happy memories? They would only torture him, taunting him with how he had once held love, had at least been touched by others, and how now he had none of that. The Guardians would cast him away and he would be alone again, as he had always been, only this time it would be worse.

Absently he was aware of the fact that all the fear that coiled within him was just feeding, strengthening, his company. Blue eyes slid up from gazing at the container of teeth, instead settling warily on the Nightmare King who stood only a few meters away from him, far too close in Jack's opinion.

He was a thing of shadows, Pitch Black; Jack was well aware of this. The man, no, the _creature_ was a thing composed of trickery and nightmares, and even if he hadn't been once upon a time it did not change that fact that he was now. He fed on fear, and Jack weakly registered that he must seem like an all you can eat buffet with the thoughts, no with the _truths _that he had figured out. The Nightmare King observed Jack patiently, hands clasped behind his back as he stared at the pale boy in front of him, expression unreadable. The nightmares had disappeared for the moment, though black sand hung in the crooks and folds of the darker man's cloak, the wind displacing a few pieces with every gust.

Pitch's words from minutes before rang in Jack's head, the shadow's offer to rule besides him, to be known, to be seen and respected, it was so tempting. Jack knew that while Pitch was what he had been led to believe to be the bad guy, they were quite similar; few believed in Pitch anymore, and beneath his cruel attitude the shadow seemed to be as desperate to be believed in as Jack was. The pale boy's gaze slid down to the baby teeth container in his hands, a feeling deep within him knowing that if he glimpsed his past he would be choosing an answer to Pitch's offer; if he chose hope, the small hope that his memories would prove to the other Guardians that he had been chosen as a Guardian for a reason, that when this was all over they wouldn't push him away. If he chose that small hope over the nightmare's proposal Jack was certain Pitch's proposition would be revoked, and the Nightmare King would turn around and attempt to kill him, again.

It seemed like an eternity before Jack scrunched his eyes shut, teeth gritting, gathering the courage to do what he was unable to do earlier; his arm flicked back before jerking forward. The container of teeth became airborne, disappearing over the edge of the icy chasm and into the watery depths beyond, the howl of the wind drowning out any splash it could have made. Jack stared after it with an almost empty expression, before turning to face Pitch. "Yes," Jack responded quietly, looking up towards the shadow with a weary expression, as if the act he had just committed had added centuries of weight onto his shoulders.

Pitch's expression twisted, going from the blank, unreadable gaze to a victorious smirk, the man moving to pace around Jack in an almost predatory manner.

"You will not regret this, Jack," Pitch assured his new charge, stopping when he was behind the other and placing hands on either one of Jack's shoulders, the boy straightening with the action, a twisting sensation appearing in his gut. "We will be so powerful together; truly nothing goes together better than my darkness and your ice and cold," the Nightmare King bent slightly, hissing the words in Jack's ear before straightening, the boy of ice and snow unable to see the feral grin that slid into place on the shadow's face.

"Nothing can stop us," Pitch hissed, before his fingers tightened their grips on Jack's shoulders, shadows from beneath them sliding up and twining around Jack. The pale boy didn't move, accepting this, unaware as his crystalline blue eyes shifted to the same, softly glowing yellow as Pitch's. Shadows then swarmed up and around the two, dragging the two out of that plane and into the world of shadows, Pitch taking Jack away.

Soon there was no trace of anything having happened at all, spare for the spiraling, spindled creation of ice and nightmare sand, the looming form reaching up towards the heavens, as if a parting sign, an apology, to the moon for what was to come.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Well color me surprised, never thought you all would actually like this, let alone request for a continuation. So here is a second chapter, by request from readers.

Again I own nothing, and please be gentle this is my first fic;;;

* * *

"Have you found any sign of him," came her voice first, the tone soft and tired, words wavering as she spoke, barely a hint of hope riding on the edge of the question. North looked away from the large globe in front of him to see Tooth standing, _standing_ next to him; he frowned, so used to seeing the fairy flitting about. _Though_, he though,_ that was before, back when Pitch was still merely an unpleasant memory_. Now, however, was different; with so few children believing in her, the immortal's once plentiful powers had been sapped, Tooth only an echo of her former glory. Even as North stared at her he noticed the way her shoulders sagged in exhaustion, new worry lines etched into her face, and the once iridescent feathers had lost their shine, many rumpled and standing at odd angles. A new wave of rage towards Pitch surged within him, North grunting in irritation before sighing and hanging his head.

"No, afraid not," he replied solemnly, his thick Russian accent laced with regret. "Who are we to know where Jack could have gone? After what happened with Bunny-" he cut off, grimacing as both his and Tooth's gaze moved over to their companion; Bunnymund was perched a little ways away, on the same windowsill that Jack had rested at after Sandy died. His form was reduced to a mockery of his former self, and even though it was adorable, cute and completely opposite the other's personality, they couldn't find a trace of humor in it, not with the grave message that the form brought with it.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Tooth whispered softly to North, the large man sighing and shrugging.

"Of that, I am not sure," he sighed, giving one last mourning look to the hare on the windowsill before turning to look back up at the globe in front of them. The lights on it, once so brilliantly lit up, were now few and far between. As he watched two more in France went out, the large man's shoulders sagging as he felt a small amount of energy, of power within him trickle away.

"…Are any of us going to be okay?" Tooth murmured a moment later, North looking over at her worried expression, the fairy's gaze resting on the globe as well. "We've lost Sandy, Bunny can't fight like this and our powers are draining away by the minute…North what do we do?" The woman looked up to St. Nick, worry etched deeply into her expression.

"Only time will tell; I do not think even Manny knows now," he sighed, casting a quick glance to the large skylight in the room, frowning as he saw no moon, it being the time of day where it was set. "For now we need to find Jack, he is our greatest hope against Pitch." With this said North looked back at the large globe that covered the height of the room, sighing as he watched the last light in Australia go out.

"Now where to find him, that is the question."

* * *

Jack fell out of the shadows with a small yelp of surprise, not having expected Pitch to deposit them some ways up a wall. He quickly recovered, the tight grip on his staff allowing him to barrel roll through the air and gently come to a stop on the ground. Huffing slightly in irritation he looked around to see where Pitch had taken them, the pale boy taking on an expression of distaste as he recognized the room. In front of him were dozens, maybe hundreds of black, gothic style birdcages, and inside each Tooth's fairies were packed, weak chirps and tweets sounding; the air was silent of their beating wings, not enough children believing anymore to grant them that much power.

Jack frowned, displeased at the sight of the cages, and how many of the small fairies seemed to perk up at the sight of him, a small trickle of guilt appearing in his stomach as he stared up at them. He looked away only when the image from earlier, the reminder of Baby Tooth and Toothiana's true feelings towards him, had resurfaced. His eyes flashed yellow once more as the image filled his head, imagined voices echoing insults and scolding words in his head.

With a grimace he slapped his hands over his ears; this only worked partially to block out the tooth fairies' hopeful tweets, the bulkiness of his staff in one hand leaving space for the guilt-spawning noises to slip through. Looking away from the cages he decided to seek out his new ally, Pitch being nowhere in sight from where Jack had come out. Staff making small tapping sounds as he walked, the pale boy moved away from the room with the cages, in the opposite direction of where he knew the piles upon piles of golden baby tooth containers were tossed half-hazardly.

Jack soon discovered that this place was like a large maze, twisting tunnels and staircases to nowhere filled with shadows and darkness sending him in loops and confusing paths; multiple times he found himself stumbling blindly through pitch black passages. Pitch's nightmares trailed him as he walked, the mares able to sense his fear, his apprehension, and while he was an ally of Pitch now he couldn't help but freeze those that dared to approach him, leaving a path of frozen mares in his wake; breadcrumbs my arse, this was far more effective to tell where he had been.

It was after about a day of wandering and his third, and utterly frustrating, time of returning to the room with the birdcages by pure accident, did he hear a low chuckle, his head whipping to glare at the man, the shadow, that stood on the other side of the room, an amused smirk in place.

"If you are quite done wasting time in getting lost, I wish for you to see something, Jack," he stated, mouth twisting up in an amused manner before he turned, grey hand beckoning the icy boy to follow him. Jack's face darkened into a glare, irritated footfalls sounding off the walls as he paced after Pitch, quickly catching up after a few bounds and bouncing off of walls covered the distance.

"What," he spoke for the first time since coming to Pitch's realm, Jack's voice for the most part monotone, only a touch of suspicion and distrust laced towards the end of the word.

"Something you've seen before, I'm sure, however…" Pitch drifted off as they turned a corner, displaying something Jack hadn't caught sight of since coming here. In front of them was a globe, similar to the large one he had seen back in North's factory, only this much smaller, only about two or three meters in height. Metal formed continents rose up out from the ground, the seas blank gaping spaces of air; the entire surface was a rough, dark color, almost like something that had rusted along and soaked in the shadows, the surface grainy. The only thing that broke the smooth metal were small, golden lights; there were only a handful left, twenty at best, and as they stared two of the lights flickered out.

"These are the only children left…" Jack murmured softly, leaning slightly against his staff in shock, surprised how quickly the number had dwindled compared to when he had seen it back at North's place.

"Yes," Pitch sneered with blatant glee, watching as another light went out. "I was planning on going and celebrating the last few go out by watching those pathetic little guardians dwindling away. Can you imagine their faces as they too come to not be believed in? They will know what it's like to be left in the dark and the cold, no one seeing you, unable to be touched…" Pitch drifting off, his face twisting in a grimace that seemed to reflect the way that Jack felt; the feeling that he had known for so long, had _hated_ for so long.

"They will know how we have felt for so many centuries," the pale boy heard Pitch hiss, Jack's blue gaze having returned to stare at the globe as the two final lights in Africa flicked out, leaving only a couple in North America and Europe, as well as in- oh no, there went the last hope in Australia.

"Would you like to come with me, Jack, to see what pathetic beings those who tried to use you, who lied to you, have become?" Pitch offered, his words coming out in almost a purr as he spoke. Behind the boy's back Pitch's fingers moved slightly, a few, silent grains of the nightmare sand slipping up to move about above the pale hair.

When Jack looked to Pitch it was with an expression equal parts of suffering and anger, and it was with golden eyes that he stared up resolutely at the shadow. The corner of Jack's mouth tilted up; it was his normal, mischievous grin, though now had a touch of darkness to it, a touch of pitch black. "Of course."


	3. Chapter 3

Tooth paced anxiously around North's factory, her bottom lip gnawed raw from worrying it; she had left North to tend to some sort of emergency the yetis had brought up, the fairy receding to pace around worriedly. The lights were slowly disappearing from the globe as more and more kids lost faith and pitch grew stronger, and Tooth was all too aware if they didn't find Jack, or some other sort of help, and soon, then the Nightmare King would win, swallowing the world in fear.

The fairy sighed; Jack. Where had the little winter spirit disappeared to? Her wings gave a nervous flutter as she thought on it, wondering where Jack was. Had he looked at the memories locked within the baby teeth? She herself had never seen his memories, having had respect for the other immortal even before he was a Guardian. Her shoulders slumped as the thought ran through her head; no, Jack wasn't a Guardian, was he? He had gotten so upset when they had offered the initiation to him before, and Tooth highly doubted it was because of those shoes, no matter how horrific looking they may have looked.

Her lip was once again put under attack as she dug her teeth into it to vent her worry, the fairy wringing out her hands as she walked; absently she noticed a few of the yetis still milling about giving her odd little bows of the head or a wave, though she didn't acknowledge them, too wrapped up in her thoughts. Admittedly, this was rude, however there was only so much that one could worry about before tearing out their feathers in frustration. Her mouth turned down into a deeper frown at the thought, anxious hands smoothing down out of place feathers on her arms and legs; as more and more stress piled on, coupled with the loss of her powers, it had been difficult to keep up physical appearances. Though, there was nothing she could do about it now, save for smoothing down stray feathers every few minutes and trying to ignore how weird it felt to be walking around with her wings lying limply behind her.

Turning a corner she sighed, eyes falling upon the other Guardian whose appearance had taken a toll in all this; moving quietly she slid down on the window seat next to Bunnymund, the other not moving save for a small twitching of his nose.

"How you holding up, Bunny?" she spoke softly, turning her head to follow his gaze, watching as snow fell softly down outside, again her mind skipping to be reminded of Jack, a knot of worry appearing in her stomach.

"Don't worry about me, sheila, I'll be just fine," Bunnymund replied, though Tooth could see the truth behind the words; the way that the other had paused before answering, how the words seemed to lack any life or spark that the other usually had, and the small smile that the other's diminished form held was a sad one. Tooth didn't respond to his attempt at reassurance, instead moving forward to scoop up the tiny bunny in her arms, holding him close in a viper-like hug. Bunnymund struggled for a moment, before his tiny frame relaxed, both taking a moment of silence to simply sit there and silently share their worry.

They stayed like that for perhaps ten minutes at most, though it was enough for the light snowfall from before to turn into a horrid blizzard; the two snapped out of their daze only when one of the yeti's skidded up, making livid arm gestures and babbles. Tooth's head snapped around, following the other's line of attention, a gasp escaping as she saw a large silhouette pacing around the room at an apparently bored pace.

"North!" Tooth exclaimed, Bunnymund hopping from her arms as she sprung to her feet, the fairy's eyes tracking the smirking shadow that slid around the room, before it disappeared.

"What?" the large man exclaimed, bursting in the room, followed by several yetis and elves, the latter weaving around foolishly as not to be trampled.

"He's here," Bunny piped up, the rabbit rising up on his hind-paws, tiny head flicking around as he tried to seek out where Pitch was now; there was no need to specify who they meant, too much anxiety and fear radiating off of them for the 'he' to be Jack.

North swore loudly in Russian before barking orders for the yetis and elves to leave the room, before unsheathing his twin swords, the metal reflecting harshly in the light of the room. "Pitch!" the mammoth of a man cried, his words a challenge, wanting the shadow to reveal himself.

"Oh, come now, must you immediately react offensively? Really North, so volatile," came a low chuckle, the three looking up to see Pitch perched atop the large globe in the center of the room. A cocky smirk was in place on the other's face, the Nightmare King turning slightly to pace over from Britain to Greenland. "And here all I wanted to do was talk," he paused, "well, perhaps not solely talk, I should say I came to watch; how does it feel, little Guardians, to know that this," he gestured to the globe beneath his feet, one shadow covered foot stepping onto one of the few lights left, "is your future?" Pitch laughed, moving away, revealing the light to have gone out; the man disappeared into his shadow form, falling and pooling down the globe like ink, his voice still echoing around the room. "After all, you have no hope left." Pitch's sneer was audible in his voice, the sentence ending in a low cackle.

"Nyet! We still have hope-" North exclaimed angrily, only to have Pitch's words cut over him, the shadow letting out a cruel laugh that sent chills down their spines.

"Hope? What, pray tell, would that be? After all, you have lost your trump card have you not?" the voice mocked, before Pitch reformed, standing on the globe once again, though this time closer to the west coast of North America, looking down with a sneer at the Guardians below.

"What are you talking about, Pitch." Tooth snapped, eyes narrowing, having a guess, having a fear of what the other may be talking about.

"Oh? Have you forgotten about him already? Tsk, tsk Toothiana, seems you only liked him while him and his _oh so_ white teeth were around, hmm?" Pitch chuckled lowly at the look of terror on Tooth's face.

"What did you do with Jack!" Tooth exclaimed angrily, taking a step forwards, only to be stopped by the outstretched arm of North in front of her. Her cry of rage at her companion for stopping her was held back only as she realized the large man felt the same as her, the white of his knuckles showing as his grip tightened on the swords in reflex to the Nightmare King's words..

"Do _with_ him? Oh dear, seems your fears were right, child. They don't care what happens _to_ you, merely if I've displaced you, what a shame," Pitch tsk'd in mock sadness, before flashing a smirk over to his right, towards a pillar on one of the upper balconies that surrounding the globe.

The Guardians froze as from the shadows behind the pillar Jack slid forth, the pale boy landing silently on the railing of the balcony. All of the Guardians gave a sharp intake of air as they saw the state of the boy; his once lively eyes were now dimmed, coated in darkness and suffering, and his staff clutched tightly in his hand was covered in a thin layer of the nightmare sand that had frozen, leaving it dark with only a soft sheen of blue light the reflected off of the ice. His expression flickered between so many emotions at once; betrayal, pain, sadness, anger, and something dark, something that had the Guardians doing a double take at the so very foreign look on the icy teen's face.

Jack said nothing, merely staring down at his former companions, his expression finally settling on a mask, hiding what he felt and giving off an air of indifference, even though no one bought it, all having glimpsed the painful emotions. After a moment he pushed off, landing next to Pitch, still remaining mute as he looked down, missing the victorious smirk that the Nightmare King flashed down at the Guardians.

Bunnymund was the first to recover, raising up on his hind-legs in order to seem as large as possible, his face contorting into a glare, betrayal swirling beneath the expression. "Jack, whaddya think you're doing up there with Pitch?! Don't tell me you've teamed up with that whacker!" The small rabbit declared angrily, his large ears twitching in annoyance.

Jack looked over to Bunny with an expression displaying the tiniest hint of surprise, obviously not having noticed the other there before. His placid expression slid into an amused grin, leaning on his staff. "Guess I can't call you Kangaroo anymore, can I Cottontail?" the pale boy taunted.

"Jack," North cut in, his voice wary, the frown on his face deepening as Jack's gaze snapped over to him, the boy scowling slightly at having his banter interrupted. "Do not tell us you are with Pitch," the large man murmured in a pained tone, essentially repeating Bunnymund's question; all of the Guardians stared up with wide, hurt eyes at the pale boy above them, fearing the answer.

Jack stared at them for a moment, an almost confused expression in place; then however, Pitch leaned over and whispered something in the boy's ear, Jack's expression immediately going cold, his eyes flashing gold momentarily.

"Take a guess, North," the boy spoke, his words venomous, filled with anger and hurt, why that was the Guardians couldn't guess, merely watched in shock as Jack raised his staff slightly before slamming it down, ice spreading rapidly down the globe, heading straight for the trio.


	4. Chapter 4

"Jack; do not tell us you are with Pitch," North spoke, his tone of voice and expression catching Jack off guard, a slight frown gracing the pale boy's face; if he hadn't known any better he would have said the man seemed concerned. But that was preposterous wasn't it? They were just pretending to like him, weren't they? Doubt began to seep through the hurt-ridden depths of Jack's mind, the winter spirit taking in the trio's pained expressions. For a moment a small spark of hope flared within him, that perhaps the images he had imagined earlier where just that, imagined.

These thoughts, however, were destroyed as soon as Pitch leaned over to the pale boy's ear; the shadow had seen Jack wavering with indecision, and the Nightmare King did not plan on letting the boy leave their alliance so easily.

"Oh, Jack, are you really going to believe their lies? Don't be foolish enough to be swayed. If they didn't like you before, how do you think they feel towards you now that you've chosen to join me?" Pitch hissed, "They detest you Jack, they think you weak now, weaker than what they thought before, they think of you as nothing more than a tool, a weapon to use against me; do not forget that," Pitch hissed, the shadow making some of the nightmare sand coil around towards the back of Jack's head, out of both the teen's and the Guardians' sight, though enough to still have an effect on the blue eyed youth. "They know nothing about what you've been through, about how you suffered for so long, _so_ very alone. They cannot relate, what with their little happy existences; even now in these _pathetically_ weak forms they are still believed in; and you? You are not. That's not very fair, now is it?" Pitch's tone took on false pity, before chuckling lowly. "And yet they try to say that you are one of them? Are you really going to buy into their poorly crafted lies, Jack?" Pitch whispered harshly before leaning back, smirking as he saw the golden flash that went through the teen's eyes.

Jack took Pitch's words to heart, the hope within him withering and dying like a snowflake on the equator. His expression turned as cold as the ice he commanded, looking down at the Guardians with thinly veiled contempt. "Take a guess, North," he spat, words laced with his hate and hurt, before slamming the staff down, smirking as the ice spread down towards the trio. He saw Bunnymund leap out of the way and onto Tooth's shoulder, the woman flapping her wings in vain as she tried to escape the ice, finally settling for backing up from the rapidly proceeding frost. North backed up as well, though he didn't look down at the ice, his gaze staying solely on Jack and Pitch.

Jack let the ice advance until he felt a hand on his shoulder, the pale boy's head whipping to the side to stare at Pitch accusingly, his look demanding to know why the shadow was silently commanding him to stop.

"Don't, Jack. Not now; remember what we came here for, hmm?" the shadow smirked, Jack frowning slightly before sighing and stopping the ice's advance; North had managed to avoid the creeping tendrils of frost, but Tooth's feet had been frozen to the ground after the fairy had been backed into a corner.

"Why are you doing this, Jack?!" Tooth exclaimed in a pained voice, trying to tug her feet free of the ice. "Why would you go with Pitch? He's horrible!"

Jack froze slightly at her comment, before directing the full force of his glare towards the fairy; Pitch's expression twisted into a humored smirk, pleased with the direct hostility shown without any prompting of his sand. Jack pushed off of the globe, flipping to land directly infront of Tooth, glaring down at her. "He's horrible? Why? Because he's rising up after all this time? Because he's tired of lurking in the shadows, unseen, while all of you prance about, loved by children, believed in? If he's horrible then so am I, Tooth! I'm the same as him!" He cried he words loudly, teeth grit together in a pained snarl. "You want to know why I'm with him? I'm tired of it, tired of no one, _no one_, knowing who I am! I'm sick of them fawning over you, tired of you three pretending that I'm one of you; Cottontail over there said it before, I'm not suited to be Guardian," Jack paused, smirking and gesturing to where Bunnymund had retreated to North's shoulder after Tooth was frozen, the rabbit's face holding a guilty look.

"Jack, mate..." Bunny started, only to halt at the snarl of irritation that came from the teen.

"Don't! I am not one of you!" he cried, slamming his staff down on the ground again, the frost climbing farther up Tooth's legs, the fairy giving a cry of worry at it.

"Jack!" North exclaimed, finally doing something, his hand coming down to grab the ice spirit's shoulder, tugging him away from Tooth. "Think about what you're doing!" North exclaimed, giving the slender frame a shake, as if hoping to knock some common sense back into the other. The only thing he got in return, however, was a look of complete loathing. North was forced to draw the hand back as ice began to cover it, bringing new meaning to the phrase 'cold shoulder.'

"Don't touch me," Jack murmured quietly, a look of internal pain flashing through his eyes. "It's too late now," he whispered as he took a half-step back, speaking more to himself than North. The pale boy quickly moved away from the Guardians, a gust of wind lifting him back up to stand at Pitch's side, the shadow having remained where he was.

"Jack, mate, don't do this," Bunny warned, "we don't-"

"Don't you dare say you don't want to hurt me." Jack cut over the other's words, an expression of amusement slipping in place, a humorless and slightly unhinged laugh escaping. "You think that you could stop me? Stop us?!" He paused, glancing at Pitch before continuing, "You have so little time left, so little power, and you think you can beat us?" Jack slammed his staff down again, and the ice covering part of the globe beneath their feet slid away, exposing how most of the lights had disappeared. As they watched two more went out, leaving only five.

"Jack, please don't do this!" Tooth exclaimed, the fairy still stuck in the ice. "Teaming up with Pitch, it isn't a good idea! He'll turn this world into a nightmare-"

The fairy was cut off as suddenly an impromptu gag slid in place; black sand had coiled up and around her body like a snake, stopping only when it had covered the woman's mouth.

"Honestly, your insistent jabbering is almost as annoying as the squeaking your precious little fairies make. They never do shut up," Pitch sighed in an irritated manner, looking down with disapproval. The shadow couldn't afford to let the fairy talk, knowing that while Jack held a similar past and feelings, the boy did not have all too similar views of what to do with the world later on; he could not afford any doubt in Jack Frost. "Though while I do love to see you all getting along, this little soap opera has gone on long enough," he smirked down at the guardians, taking a step to the side so that he stood behind Jack, hands clutching the pale boy's shoulders tightly. "The simple fact is Jack no longer wants to be associated with the likes of you. After all, none of you could really relate, could you? It is as he said; none of you know what it is like, to not be believed in, to have none see you, to feel so alone..." Pitch drifted off, face turning expressionless for a moment, before sneering down. "Well, you're going to find out _very_ soon." All five of them looked down at the globe, watching as how the lights flickered, before finally starting to go out in a consecutive order.

"Five...four," Pitch counted off with barely concealed glee, Jack staring down at the lights with a blank expression, though his eyes held a cold look of determination, hand clutching his staff tightly. The Guardians watched with identical looks of horror, knowing there was nothing they could do at this point.

"Three...two..." Jack murmured quietly, words drowned out by Pitch's own declaration, staring as the lights went out quickly, one after another. Finally, only one remained; the five of them stood there with bated breath, staring at it, waiting for it to go out.

"One..." Pitch snarled after a minute, the light not even flickering, merely glowing brightly in defiance against the Nightmare King. He was about to say something else, an insult towards the Guardians no doubt, but then noticed the expressions on Jack and the Guardians' faces; a look of recognition.

"Jamie..." Jack finally murmured, glancing down at the Guardians below, knowing that they had realized it as well. Out of all of this chaos, all the fear in the world, of course Jamie would be the one to believe, after all, not every kid could boast that they had met the Guardians plus one winter spirit a few days prior. His eyes locked with North's for a moment, grimacing softly at the regretful look the Guardian had.

"Jack, if you go there we will have no choice but to stop you," North spoke quietly, Jack barely able to hear the large man's voice, frowning at how the words were filled with mourning.

The pale boy stared at North mutely, standing indecisively as he once again was caught off guard by the man's apparently sincere actions, how he seemed to really care.

Pitch of course, would have none of it. "Come now, Jack. Let's go snuff out one tiny, little light," the Nightmare King hissed, bending his head down to bring his lips close to the other's ear, not caring to be overheard. "Then we can watch these fools wither away and know what we have felt for centuries." As the shadow spoke the sand receded from around Tooth, sliding back up towards Pitch and eventually disappearing into the folds of the man's cloak, only a small amount staying behind; it floating above the winter spirit's head, well within the view of the three below. The Guardians all stared in shock as they saw Jack's eyes turn gold, the teen's hesitation disappearing immediately as he turned around and nodded to Pitch.

"Okay," he agreed. The three immortals below gave out cries of the boy's name, whether trying to stop him, or warn him, could not be said. Jack was unable to hear them and their worried cries over the swooshing of sand and shadows, Pitch's hand gripping tightly on the teen's shoulder as the man pulled them both into darkness.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack and Pitch emerged a little ways out of Burgess, the winter spirit looking around in confusion at the hill beneath their feet, and not the city streets that he had expected. Before he could even ask Pitch raised a hand to silence his question, Jack's mouth snapping shut with a small, golden-eyed glare at the shadow, though permitted the man to speak.

"Do not worry, Jack, we have more than enough time to deal with the child, it is merely in good conscious to make sure that we remove _all_ loose ends." The shadow didn't give any kind of signal or movement, though the next moment they were suddenly surrounded, Nightmares all around, equine forms snorting and pawing restlessly at the ground. Jack watched the beasts warily as they moved around, noticing how their black forms were actually composed up of thousands of different hues of purple, blacks, greens and greys; while it was a bit captivating to watch the sand he also felt a pang of guilt that revolted him, causing him to grimace and look away, focusing on anything that didn't remind him of the sand, and in turn, his guilt over Sandy's death.

Pitch had continued talking, the shadow apparently unaware at Jack spacing out for a quick moment; Jack was quick to tune back into the other's pretentious tone. "After all, it wouldn't do to have those pesky little Guardians barge in; they're rather desperate by this point, and desperation, however pitiful, can prove…" he paused, grimacing softly, "tedious to deal with. Hence why these, and you, will deal with them-"

"No," Jack cut the shadow off, glaring up at the Nightmare King, golden eyes fading back to their natural crystalline blue. "I'm coming with you to deal with Jamie, Pitch."

"What?" Pitch arched an eyebrow before giving a small huff of amusement, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smirk. "No."

"We may be working together, Pitch, but I am not beneath you, you _cannot_ order me around as you see fit. I'm coming with you," Jack glared up at the shadow.

"Mm, and why do you care? Afraid I'll hurt the little human?" Pitch let out a low cackle, pacing around the pale boy in front of him, his sneer directed at the winter spirit. Jack wouldn't give him the satisfaction of answering, of admitting that there was just a feeling of _wrong_ in letting Pitch be alone with a human child, especially the last light. "Oh I won't _hurt_ him, Jack," the Nightmare King chuckled, flashing a feral grin, "I'll simply keep him in his nightmare's for a while; the process merely takes _time. _Normally days would be required to break a child's spirit so thoroughly, however we need to have it done in a matter of less than an hour, hence why you need to make sure that I am not disturbed."

Jack's scowl faltered for a moment before morphing into a simple frown, arms moving from a defensive position to being held stiffly at his sides, staff still gripped tightly. "If you want me to keep them busy, fine, but I'm coming with you; I can cover you well enough from Jamie's room." Jack stared up the one foot difference in height at the other, chin tilted up in defiance.

Pitch stared down at the winter spirit, mulling over different courses of action; while it was possible to manipulate Jack by twisting his fears and using the sand, it would raise some suspicion in the teen, no doubt, to have your opinion changed so quickly. Jack remaining oblivious, and not suspicious, was a key factor in all of this, not needing the boy to subconsciously build up any sort of resistance to the nightmare sand. No, that would not do; he would have to, for now, allow the teen to do as he pleased, and after dealing with the child he would do more to corrupt Jack. After all, anything is possible given a little time and fear.

"Very well, Jack," he sighed after a few minutes, looking down at the boy with a thoughtful look, the corners of his mouth turned down subtly. "Just, one moment…" he murmured, looking away from Jack and off towards the horizon. Jack followed his gaze, an expression of confusion flitting across his face, before he noticed a subtle change in the far off distance, as if the darkness of the night was shifting.

"What-"

"All in due time, Jack, for now," Pitch paused sighing, face contorting into a scowl. "Watch over the boy, there are matters I must check into. Do not let the Guardians near." With those words he disappeared, leaving Jack to gaze into the darkness.

"'Guard the boy' he says. I'll guard the boy, _sure_, while he's off doing who knows what," Jack grumbled as he pushed off the ground, soaring over his hometown, hood flapping noisily as he went, arms outstretched and spread eagle-wide. He could hear the wind that carried him howling warnings at him, though he turned a deaf ear to them, merely looking about and keeping an eye out for North's sleigh and the Guardians that would come with it.

* * *

Jack found Jamie crouched down on his bed, surprisingly awake, the boy seeming to have a conversation with a stuffed rabbit in front of him, the toy faded and worn with obvious love.

"...my whole life in fact," Jamie was saying, and Jack froze, a curl of guilt spawning inside of him as he realized that Jamie was making a feeble attempt to talk with Bunnymund. It was then that Jack got a jolt of the severity of this entire situation; it was only due to this one child, this one human's beliefs, that any of the Guardians were still around.

"...Anything...anything at all," Jamie murmured, staring almost desperately at the toy; Jack watched as the human's face slowly fell, the stuffed toy slipping off the side of the bed to lay pitifully on the floor. "I knew it," Jamie whispered, hurt.

Perhaps it was how pitiful the boy looked, how crestfallen his expression was, possibly it was Jack's guilt for betraying Bunnymund and the other Guardians, or maybe because, for the first time since Antarctica, Pitch wasn't here to twist and manipulate Jack's thoughts, Jack's corrupted, golden-eyed self far away. Regardless of the reason of _why_, it was to no one's greater surprise than Jack's when he instinctually pushed the window the remainder of the way open, frost littering across the glass. Reaching a finger up the pale boy drew a crude picture of an egg, ridiculous painted on squiggles and all. When he looked back at Jamie he was shocked to see the joy on the boy's face, the pure elation and _hope_ that had somehow sprung to life in the few seconds he had looked away.

"He's real...he really is real!" Jamie exclaimed, jumping to his feet on the bed with a disbelieving laugh, staring a little bit to the left of Jack, towards the drawing on the window. "I knew you were real, I knew it! It wasn't a dream last night, it wasn't, you or the tooth fairy or Santa; you're all real!" the boy exclaimed in joy, though as soon as the child spoke Jack grimaced, the small bit of joy he had gotten when Jamie perked up immediately dissipating.

Jamie continued to ramble on, each word sending hurt into Jack, until the winter spirit could take it no longer, glaring at the ground with a pained expression. "Every time, every time, it's all the same; just like with your tooth the other day, Jamie, they always get _all_ the attention, all the belief," Jack practically spat, dragging out the 'all' with an air of indignation. Raising his staff up he slammed it down, frost immediately blooming out to spread across the floor, up the walls and the human's bed, as well as the window, the little egg disappearing under the new coat of spiraling frost. Jack let out a keen of irritation, turning on his heel and pacing back and forth in rage, muttering things quietly to himself, all similar to, "Of course he wouldn't give _you_ credit, Jack. Pitch was right, I'm not like them, not like those Guardians, so believed in, _everyone_ knows who _they_ are," hands tugging at his hair all the while.

This continued on for a few seconds before Jack skidded to a halt, head whipping around to stare wide-eyed at the boy who stood on the bed, his back to Jack. "He said my name..." he whispered, barely loud enough for himself to hear.

"Jack Frost," Jamie murmured for the second time, though this time the words were louder, clear enough that the winter spirit could not mistake it for anything else.

Jack gave a weak laugh, taking a disbelieving step to the side, a hand running through pale hair. "He said my name!" He exclaimed in a shaky voice, broad grin in place, watching as Jamie slowly turned on the bed, the boy's eyes drifting seekingly through the room as he repeated the winter spirit's name. "Jack Frost! That's my name, that's me!" Jack laughed, grin widening, the teen unaware as some of the darkness that lurked in his eyes since all this business with Pitch had begun slipped away; the expression was now more of the playful spirit's true nature. He gave another weak laugh, in shock over this development, almost too caught up to notice the slack jawed expression on the child's face as Jamie stared right at him.

Jack stared back at the kid for a moment before stuttering out in disbelief, "C-can you hear me?" almost fearing the answer, the thought surely too good to be true. He let out a frail sound of happiness as Jamie nodded an affirmative, "Can you see me?" he quickly added, taking a step forwards, hope practically radiating off of him. Again came the nod and Jack let out a whoop of delight, backflipping onto the kid's table, exclaiming, "You can see me!" loudly; never in all his three-hundred years had he been able to say that. "T-this is amazing! You can see me!" Jack repeated, flipping in the air to bounce off of the wall, quickly landing infront of Jamie in a flurry of snowflakes, broad smile in place.

"_Oh yes_, Jack," a cold voice spoke from the corner, the words laced with sarcasm, "Truly _amazing._" Jack froze, eyes widening as suddenly he remembered everything, why they had come here, that light that Jamie represented, and_ Pitch_...

The Nightmare King in question slid out of the shadows, looking down on the little scene before him condescendingly, his lips tilting up into a sneer. "What an _adorable_ little get together; now go keep an eye out for the Guardians, Jack, while I deal with the boy," Pitch commanded, making a bored shooing motion with his fingers; his other hand rose up, a large mass of black sand coiling around in the air above it, almost as big as Jamie himself.

Jack stared from Pitch to Jamie with wide eyes, hands clenching and unclenching on his staff repeatedly; finally deciding, he put himself between Pitch and Jamie. "No, Pitch."

The shadow stared at Jack with a started expression, before a low, mocking chuckle escaped him. "Oh, what's this? You _can't_ be serious."

"J-Jack?" Jamie asked in a weak voice, looking from the pale boy in front of him.

Jack ignored the boy for the moment, staring seriously at the shadow before him; Pitch's expression lost all mocking humor once he realized that the winter spirit was serious, face dropping to glare dangerously at Jack. "So you're willing to give up everything, over one child." As Pitch spoke he dropped his hands, the black sand falling to lay in mock innocence on the floor, Jack ignoring it in favor of watching the Nightmare King. The shadow himself had begun to take slow steps towards Jack, the winter spirit taking one step back for three of the man's before him, staff held defensively.

"Have you forgotten, Jack, about how things will be? We snuff out this one little child's hopes, his dreams and beliefs...and then we can come out of the shadows; give up the boy, Jack, and thousands will take his place." As Pitch spoke the sand, that Jack had so foolishly chosen to ignore, slid up the bedposts, splitting into two paths; one moved to gag and wrap around Jamie like a snake, the other moving to waver behind Jack, the spirit having been backed up against the bed, the mass simply waiting for orders from Pitch.

"We won't be believed in, we'll be _feared_," Jack quipped up at the other, unaware as the sand looming behind him all shifted to swirl above his head.

"Oh, but Jack, you surely haven't forgotten; you have no where to go back to. You think your precious _Guardians_ will be able to help you? Will accept _you_? Who failed to protect your precious little Sandman, hmm? After all, Jack, all this time it hasn't been what _I've_ done, but you. Surely you haven't forgotten about all the _good_ you did on Easter, hmm?" Pitch laughed mockingly, the word 'good' practically dripping with sarcasm as he spoke. Jack visibly sagged as Pitch spoke, images dancing before his eyes once again as the sand expanded the fears fueled by the shadow's words; Pitch was right, wasn't he? Who was he kidding; did he expect to go back to the Guardians, to those who he had betrayed, had practically destroyed, say sorry and everything would go back to normal? Of course not.

"I-I..." Jack murmured weakly, confusedly, eyes flitting about as he tried to make sense, blue irises slowly fading to gold. It was only when all of the crystalline blue had disappeared did Jack take a jerky step to the side, allowing Pitch to pass; Jack sent Jamie a look full of pity, trying to express his guilt for doing this, the winter spirit unaware as the boy gasped from behind his sand-made gag at the sight of the other's eyes. Jamie's view of Jack, however, quickly was taken as his eyes fluttered shut and his body hung limply as he was swept into sleep. The nightmare sand quickly moved to be true to it's name, Pitch sending the boy into the darkest dreams possible, a merciless grin in place all the while.

Pitch watched as the sand swirled around the boy in a serpentine fashion, forming almost a cocoon as it moved faster and faster, a blur of black and hues of green and purple. The Nightmare King was so caught up in the process that he missed Jack entirely; the sand over the winter spirit's head was still present, though a large chunk had gone to join the rapidly swirling mass around Jamie. With this small sap in corruption to his thoughts Jack's will had begun to rebel more, common sense slowly starting to peak out through the fear, demanding he do what was right, regardless of the consequences that he feared so much.

Jack wavered like this for some time, though was instantly snapped out of it at the first of Jamie's terrified, nightmare-laden screams, golden eyes dispersing instantly, true blue eyes taking their place. He wasted no time, raising his staff to blast Pitch back, the shadow sent backwards as he was caught off-guard and out of the still-open window, flopping most indignantly onto the street below. Not sparing the shadow a second glance Jack quickly moved to freeze the sand as well, the black stuff of nightmares exploding in a massive burst of energy; the winter spirit was relieved to find Jamie physically unharmed at the center of it, though who could say for certain about his mental state at the moment.

"Jamie, Jamie come on, wake up," Jack commanded, shaking the child's shoulder roughly, relieved to see that he could do that, considering that it meant the boy still believed in him. "Jamie, now _really_ isn't the best time for a nap," Jack hissed, casting an anxious look over his shoulder towards the window that Pitch had just been forced out of. The boy infront of him finally awoke, jerking up into a sitting position, gasping for breath, wide eyed and terrified. He needed to take only one look to Jack, noting the blue eyes, before he was clinging desperately to the winter spirit, trembling madly. Jack was caught off guard, unable to do more than stand there, gasping in shock; never, in all of his memory, had someone hugged him, shown that they had truly needed him, and here Jamie was, the first child who believed in him, who now needed him to comfort him, to _protect_ him.

Cautiously he wrapped his arms around Jamie, awkwardly hugging the child, before he grabbed the human by the shoulders and gently peeled him out of the hug. "Jamie, it was just a dream, I'm sorry, I won't let it happen again, and I know you're really upset but right now Pitch is out there and I have to-"

He was cut off as a loud, semi-unhinged cackle drifted from a corner in the room, Jack tensing as he heard the Nightmare King _laughing_ at him. "Oh how naïveof you, Jack. Do tell me, what can a weak, little, _invisible_, nothing like you can do against me?" Pitch mocked, Jack's gaze flitting about the room, trying to find where Pitch was, mentally smacking himself for momentarily forgetting that the other could travel through shadows. "I'm more than powerful enough to deal with the likes of _you_, what with all of the delicious fear in the world, Jack," the voice spoke fondly of the fear, a fact that made Jack grimace, part of him wondering why he had agreed again to working with the Nightmare King. "Do you really think you can stop _me_?"

"I don't have to be able to stop you, I just have to protect him," Jack yelled out in a brash response, shifting so he was standing infront of Jamie protectively, the boy in a small patch of light cast by the streetlamp outside that flitting through the window. "He's all that it takes to defeat you, Pitch, their hope, it's all it takes, isn't it? As long as there is _one_ child, you canbe stopped," he exclaimed to the dark corners of the room, not sure if this was true in the slightest, though truly did hope it.

Jack hovered protectively in front of the Jamie, face set in determination, though even he couldn't help but wince at the low cackle that Pitch let out in response to Jack's quip. Whatever the Nightmare King was about to say went unheard, Jack having had enough, spinning around and grabbing Jamie's hand, the two barreling out the window, the wind lifting the two of them up enough to soar a few blocks before finally setting them down.

"You okay?" Jack asked, wincing slightly as he caught the haunted look in Jamie's eyes, though accepted the boy's nod for the moment. "That's good. Now, I've got to figure out how to deal with Pitch..." the winter spirit muttered, eyes dragging up to see the swirling mass of sand in the sky; immediately he was hit with a dreadful sense of deja vu, the cloud with Pitch atop it looking identical to the one he had the night Sandman had been killed.

Despite the fact that Pitch was hundreds of meters away, Jack was able to hear the man's cold laugh as clearly as if the shadow were standing next to him; he wasn't, Jack checked to make sure. "Come, Jack, let's _end this_."

Jack's grip on his staff tensed; as much as he was ready to fly up there and end this he was more than a little hesitant to leave Jamie in this state, and unguarded to beat.

It was almost too coincidental to be true, though Jack was no one to look a gift horse in the mouth; with an almighty booming and a crashing sound North's sleigh flopped ungracefully to the street, reindeer scattering in every which direction. Jack merely stared at the motley group that tumbled out of the sleigh, the group being simply North and Tooth, neither looking very well. Tooth was flightless and seemed to act as if she had a great weight set upon her shoulders, and North was pale and acted like someone his apparent age should, relying heavily on his swords as makeshift canes as he struggled to rise.

Jack met Tooth's gaze for a moment, sending her weary eyes an apologetic expression before turning looking away, knowing that even if he did apologize, there was no way they would accept his words.

"Woah...Santa..." Jack heard from besides him, looking down to see Jamie gaping at the two forms infront of him, the winter spirit unable to help a small chuckle that escaped. "A-and the tooth fairy! I knew it, you guys _are_ real!" Jamie exclaimed, Jack looking over to see Tooth and North gaping at him and the child, connecting who it was, and obviously how Jack was here, with the last light on the globe.

"Jack-" North started, no doubt thinking that the teen was here to do Jamie harm, though fell silent as Jack held up a hand, silencing him with a look.

"Guard him," was all he said, before turning away and pushing off the ground, the wind lifting him up, Jack heading point blank for Pitch. "Pitch!" he cried loudly, angrily, as he neared the Nightmare King, able to make out the shadow from where he was perched on top of the sand.

"And here I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me, Jack," Pitch replied with mock hurt to Jack's cry, before the shadow mirrored Jack's actions but with sand, a large, pointed funnel racing to meet the teen. Jack halted midair, letting out a cry and using his powers to freeze the sand; he could immediately tell that something was wrong, however, when the ice moved slowly, slower than it should be. It took him a moment too long to realize that it wasn't the ice moving slowly, but instead the amount of sand racing towards him was rapidly increasing, moving faster and faster towards him.

When it hit him he let out a cry, getting thrown back down to the city below, another pained sound slipping from his lips as he smashed down onto a frozen pond, tearing through the ice as if it were rice paper. His eyes flicked open the moment he was in the icy water, unaware of the few bits of black sand that had stuck to him as he had fallen; they now moved up, covering as much of Jack's mouth and nose that they could. Jack struggled as he sucked in water, the feeling of pressure all around him, of liquid fire in his lungs, of the darkness creeping on his eyes, how the light distorted around him, making it look like the ice seemed to be reforming over the hole he had fallen in-

It was in that moment that he broke free of the nightmare sand's effect for the second time that night; snow, ice, those were _his_, his to command, not something to seal him in this situation. He was overwhelmed, though, by how familiar this whole situation seemed; had never felt this pain before, not that he could remember, this fear of drowning that had, apparently, sprung from no where.

Pushing it out of his mind for the moment, he rose to the surface, gasping and tugging himself onto the ice around the hole he had made; his staff made it easy enough to freeze a thick enough patch of ice, Jack able to have no fear of falling in again. Gasping, he dragged his gaze skywards, his already snow-white skin paling into a grey tint as he saw massive waves of sand shifting closer on the horizon. Inwardly he cursed himself for not having noticed before, but then he started, jumping to his feet as he realized that Pitch was no longer in the sky.

_Jamie_.

Jack took off like a bullet, the wind moving him forward at breakneck speed through gaps in buildings, towards where he had left the Guardians and the boy. Rounding a corner he tumbled to a stop, as to not hit the small band infront of him; it seems Jamie, North and Tooth had made use of the time Jack had spent getting beat, a few more children huddled around them. Noting how the Guardians seemed a little more alive, and how one of the girls seemed to openly gape at Tooth, Jack had a safe bet to guess that they had gotten a few children to believe again, though how that would help against Pitch...

Jack's attention was captured as the Nightmare King in question revealed himself, stepping out from the shadows; Jack really should have known that the group was under attack, what with how the Guardians were huddled infront of the children protectively.

"Really Guardians, you think a few pathetic _children_ can help you against me? Against all this _fear_?" Pitch cackled, swinging an arm to gesture at the mass of sand that still rose up above the town in waves. Gritting his teeth at the pretentiousness of the shadow, Jack hopped off of the roof he had been perched on, a blast of ice and frost sent directly at Pitch. How the man did it, Jack didn't know, but the winter spirit was shocked when his attack was held off with apparent ease, the Nightmare King merely holding up a hand to defend with.

"Ah, _Jack_, enjoy your little dip?" Pitch sneered, tone laced with false innocence. Jack merely glared at him again, shaking some of his damp bangs as a retort, before firing off another shot at the shadow. A sound of irritation escaped Jack as the Nightmare King disappeared into the shadows, false silhouettes flitting around the walls, making it look like there were dozens of Pitches.

"Jack, what are you doing here..." Jack heard Tooth ask confusedly from behind him, the pale boy turning slowly and shooting both her and North a guilt ridden look.

"I'll explain fully later but...I'm sorry, really, I am. For now let's deal with Pitch and then-"

"Jack!" Jamie, Tooth and North cried out in sync, effectively cutting him off, their eyes flitting to stare at something over his shoulder. Breathing out a low curse-word, Jack was about to spin around, staff held out at the ready, chiding himself for turning his back for even a moment to Pitch. He halted, however, as nightmare sand protruded from between his ribs in the form of a crude looking blade, the width of the thing easily larger than the teen's hand. Jack was only able to stare down in mute shock as Pitch pulled the blade impaling him back out of the wound, the winter spirit collapsing to his knees as pain and nightmare sand began to race through his blood.

* * *

**A/N:** Ah, bit of a long one for me, hmm? Sorry OTL

Anywho, just would like to point out that before others start to complain/inquire, yes I am aware that Pitch's weapon of choice _is _the scythe, however there is reasoning behind Jack being stabbed versus cut or decapitated (cause Lokr knows scythes scream decapitation kekeke) so hence why I used a sword type blade instead

Tha's all~


	6. Chapter 6

Jack stilled as the blade of nightmare sand slid out of his body, the pale boy gasping and clutching at the bleeding wound in more out of shock than pain, though the liquid fire sensation quickly caught up, causing the winter spirit to keen through clenched teeth. The blood itself was not the crimson of humans, the color a darker hue, almost purplish, and dripped out of the wound slowly, Jack thankful that in his immortal state he healed faster. This rapid healing rate, however, did not halt the fact that he felt the same pain that he would if he were a mortal, nor that since the weapon itself was supernatural in origin it would take much longer than normal to heal as well.

Vaguely he realized Jamie had run over and was now crouching next to him, the look on the child's face terrified; the expression didn't falter in the slightest even when Jack shot him a reassuring grin. "Don't worry, this is nothing," the teen laughed weakly, before raising a hand to cover his mouth, oddly colored blood getting coughed up.

"Jack is, unfortunately, correct; it takes more than simply that to kill one of us. However, that wound won't be healing all too soon," Pitch paused, sneering down at the two, before glancing over at where Tooth and North were still standing defensively in front of the other children, albeit weakly, a miniature formed Bunnymund by their feet. "Which means I have plenty of time to deal with the rest of you _pathetic_ humans. And, well, the _just _as pathetic Guardians," he chuckled lowly, before turning to stare down at Jack, the winter spirit, despite his condition, glaring up at Pitch, free arm holding Jamie behind him protectively.

"You really should have given up the boy before any of this happened, Jack." Pitch sneered, black sand appearing out of the shadows of his cloak and whipping forward to wrap around Jack's neck, forcefully yanking the teen to his feet. Jack gasped, hating how his throat burned with the similar fire that spawned from his chest wound. Hands weakly clutched at his neck in a very human action to break free, his staff having fallen out of his grip when Pitch yanked him forwards. "Can you feel it, Jack? Feel all of that _delicious_ fear burning away inside of you; destroying the puny, pathetic hope? Did you really think you could win, Jack? That," he paused, laughing in cold humor, "because of one little child that began to believe in you, that you can _so_ easily switch sides?" Pitch's grip tightened on Jack's throat. "You are alone Jack. Alone and invisible; forever. You had a chance to end all of that, and you chose the mundane little belief that you can be _loved_ and _believed in_ without my assistance. Perhaps you need to be reminded, Jack; you are no Guardian, and you never will be."

Those were the last words Jack heard before he was swallowed up by the darkness, nightmare sand sweeping over him in waves, Jack powerless against it without his staff; all he could do was succumb to the shadows that wrapped thickly around him.

* * *

The dreams were horrible.

Horrible being an understatement of course. There was no way to describe the things that Jack saw when he was under, too many images and instances flashing by in a second, yet at the same time it seemed to drag by in what seemed like centuries. At one point he was drowning again, though whether he was back in that pond in Burgess he didn't know. He felt himself being pulled under, unable to do anything but struggle weakly as the water pushed its way down his throat. Ice betrayed him, sealing him under the water, while above the Guardians and Jamie laughed and mocked him, cruel words resonating through the ice and water to strike at his heart. Worst of all was the moon, who seemed to be watching this all, whose voice, the voice Jack hadn't heard in 300 years, merely resonated with that of the immortals and the child, saying how Jack was a mistake, that he had no purpose, and should simply disappear back into the icy depths from whence he came.

He screamed out as he sunk, struggling as the voices kept echoing despite how the scene faded, the world around him pitch black and cold. Clapping his hands down over his ears did nothing to help, the voices seemingly in his head, never ending with their painful taunts and insults. He cried out in pain as the darkness around him turned to ice, and frost and snow betraying him again as it slowly climbed up his body; it was foreign, not like how ice or snow normally felt, each touch of the frost like painful claws digging into his skin.

This pain seemed to last forever, Jack crying out in unimaginable agony as the ice climbed higher, only his ears left free in order to hear the words that told him the same thing, he was a nothing, worthless, a mistake, and all in tones of complete disgust.

Then, he was falling; wind, his only friend since he had been created, betraying him, and his staff was gone, broken into parts and swept off by the traitorous breeze. The ground below was impossibly far away and the clouds he fell through whipped against his skin, water droplets freezing and the torturous pain began once again as frost and ice betrayed him for another time.

Then, the dream changed, the air shifting in almost in a tangible way; the wind seemed to return, bringing with it his staff, and no longer was he falling, now flying, soaring, ice on his skin frozen but no longer painful...

* * *

Jack jack-knifed up into a sitting position, gasping for breath as he tried to gather his surroundings, fingers clawing into whatever he was laying on. The first thing he was aware of was the overwhelming smell of peppermint, then things clicked as he saw the familiar wooden architecture of inside North's workshop. Glancing around the room his erratic breathing began to even, looking around in confusion at the inside of the room; he hadn't seen this room before, though it was roughly the size of North's workroom, bare save for the single bed he now sat on, large, ornate windows off to the side, and pushed into the nearest corner a small table sat, Sandy perched above it and watching Jack curiously. Jack sighed, hanging his head and closing his eyes as he tried to even his breathing, before his head snapped up in shock, staring mutely at the supposedly dead Guardian who was floating only a few meters from him.

Sanderson himself began silently laughing as he saw the look on Jack's face, plump shoulders shaking up and down in his amusement, the golden Guardian floating over to plop silently next to the flabbergasted teen.

"H-how are you- Oh my god you're-" Jack couldn't find words to save his life, merely doing a fantastic expression of a gaping fish, mouth moving open and closed wordlessly, sending Sandy into another fit of silent giggles.

"How...why am I here?" Jack finally asked, before his eyes widened further. "Pitch! What happened, is Jamie okay? And the others are they-" the winter spirit was cut off as he twisted to face the Guardian, his mouth grimacing with a pained keen as his stretching put tension on his newly-healed wound, hand flying to clutch at his bare chest. His fingers traced over the pencil-sized grey and purple scar that resided there, that being only evidence that he had been stabbed at all.

Sandy's face contorted into a look of worry, tiny, golden hands immediately pressing on Jack's torso, the golden man pushing back on the teen's shoulders. Over his head a small image of Jack lying in the bed, small z's floating overhead.

"Nah, I'm fine Sandy, I don't need to rest, tell me, what happened?" Jack demanded, sitting up in a more comfortable expression, staring wide eyed at the man before him, still unable to believe he was back.

Sanderson sighed defeatedly before the scene above his head shifted, showing a silhouette of Pitch holding Jack by the throat, and while the sand in the image was golden Jack knew that what had really been choking him was the stuff of nightmares. The scene quickly changed, a small figure, Jack's heart giving an odd pang of fondness when he realized it to be Jamie, ran forwards as Pitch's sand enveloped Jack. As soon as the boy touched the large mass of swirling sand it seemed to explode; the whole scene shifted and the images began to come faster and faster as per the norm of when Sandy was excited or overwhelmed. The exploded sand seemed to swirl about and reform, Sandy emerging, from there came rapid pictures of kids with golden sand swirling above their heads, then the Guardians fighting Pitch, and from there Jack was unable to tell, Sandy's images coming too fast to track.

"So...you guys beat Pitch?" Jack guessed in disbelief after a few moments of mulling it over, figuring that somehow when Jamie had touched the black sand it had reverted to the dream sand; while Jack found it hard to understand and even harder to believe he truly didn't question it. After all, he had spent the last few days with the people of legends, heck, he himself was a three-hundred year old teen who could control frost through a shepard's crook; such things really shouldn't surprise him anymore. Regardless, however, he would definitely be going to North for details later on, guessing that Sandy's knowledge of what happened prior to his resurrection was limited.

Sandy nodded in confirmation to Jack's question, a broad grin spawning on his face, and a quick image of an aged bed frame over a hole appeared over the other's head. Jack didn't know what the other quite meant by the picture, having never seen such a thing before, though nodded in false understanding; if Sandy said they won, Jack believed it.

"That's good," he sighed, lips tilting up into a small grin. "Thanks for explanation, Sandy. How many days was I out?" Jack asked with a small tilt of his head, figuring the wound would have to have taken a day at least to heal from the point it had been before.

Sandy held up four fingers and a thumb with a small nod, Jack making a small sound of surprise at the number.

"Five days? Wow I must have been more tired than I thought…" he paused, sighing and running a hand through his hair. "Thanks though, for coming back, and for being here when I woke up." He flashed a sheepish smile. "Doubt I would have been very calm, considering I don't remember much other than-" he cut off, inhaling sharply, memories rushing back to him; specifically memories of his nightmares. His chest ached sorely in protest as he bent forward, hands clutching at his head, remembering everything that had happened in the dreams; one hand reached out blindly, a relieved sound escaping him as it located his staff, the winter spirit clutching it close to him like a security blanket. Images flashed through his mind in rapid precession, the nightmares twisting and turning even darker in his mind's eye, similar to when he was under the effect of Pitch's sand. However there was nothing hovering over Jack's head now, at least not until Sandy let his own sand drift up there in an attempt to help.

Slowly Jack relaxed, looking over at Sandy with a haunted look in his eyes, causing the golden man to frown and wave his hand infront of Jack, dream sand knocking the other out. Quickly he used his sand to shift Jack into a laying position and tug blankets over the teen, before the golden man turned and floated from the room in search of his fellow Guardians, needing to alert them of Jack's waking. This, naturally, was only after making sure that there was a large supply of golden sand swirling above Jack's head, ensuring no flashbacks would intrude on the dream.

Making his way out of the room the eldest Guardian floated through the workshop, heading to where the others were; Tooth had returned back to her palace as soon as everything had gone back to normal, but Bunny and North were still here, Bunny having time to kill considering Easter was under three days ago. It took the golden man a couple tries but eventually he found the two lounging in North's private workshop, once again squabbling over whether Easter or Christmas was more important.

They pointless squabbling completely captivated their attention, so much so that Sanderson quickly found himself in a state of irritation at being ignored, a sense of deja vu appearing at how similar this was to when MiM revealed Jack to be a Guardian. A quick look around revealed there to be no elf in sight for him to abuse, the golden man sighing before floating a few meters away from the two bickering, raising his finger in a mock impersonation of a gun.

North and Bunnymund fell silent in shock as a golden bullet whizzed between their noses, the two whipping around to see Sandy tapping his foot impatiently midair. When the man had gotten their attention an image appeared above his head, displaying Jack getting up from a bed.

"Frostbite's awake?" Bunny asked, his tone full of mixed emotions that caught Sandy as suspicious; he knew Jack and Bunny's past proved that they hadn't gotten along, sure, but the Bunny he knew would have been showing more concern towards an ally by now. Instead there was more apprehension radiating off of the pooka than concern, and North was in a similar state, if not a tad more concerned. Sandman then wondered how much he truly had missed when he was…gone.

The golden man nodded his head at the Bunny's question, frowning as both the Pooka and North shared a wary look, a golden question mark appearing above his head.

"Ah, it is nothing, Sandy," North replied hastily, his accent pronounced as always, before quickly changing the topic. "How is Jack doing?"

Sandy stared suspiciously at the two before sighing, images above his head attempting to explain about Jack's nightmarish flashback.

* * *

As soon as Sandman had slipped out of the room another figure joined Jack, watching silently as the boy smiled softly as he dreamt; small, golden snowflakes danced above the winter spirit's head. His observer stood there for a few minutes, watching with a thoughtful expression as the golden sand changed to several human children having a snowball fight. It was only then did the other party draw their gaze away, staring instead at the scar on Jack's chest.

The figure reached forward, placing a cold, grey hand over the scar, and after a moment Jack's features twisted into a grimace, the sand above his head twisting and shifting into the infamous black color, an image of Jack drowning soon forming. Pitch smirked, drawing his hand back, gazing down at his handiwork with a low chuckle. "And so the game begins again, Jack. You do like to have fun, don't you?" the shadow mocked the unconscious boy before departing, a low cackle echoing in the room.

* * *

Sandy cut off mid-explanation to North and Bunny, ignoring their confused expressions as he whipped his head to the side and stared in the direction of Jack's room. Without a moments hesitation he turned and fled through the doors, North and Bunny hot on his heels, yelling out for him to slow down. The golden man didn't listen, and within seconds he burst into Jack's room again, immediately at the teen's side. He frowned deeply as he saw Jack's tortured form on the bed, the boy clinging roughly to the sheets as he gave out weak gasps and whimpers, pleading words too quiet to understand slipping past sleeping lips.

Sandy quickly summoned up more golden sand, feeding it to the nightmare and smiling triumphantly as the image dispersed, golden sand taking over the black. The victory did not last, however, as the tide quickly turned when the black sand enveloped the golden, and the nightmare began to play again; if anything the scene was more violent than before, judging by how Jack let out a haunted scream as the dark sand moved. Sandman merely floated in shock at the turn of events, having never had that happen without Pitch directly in the room and in contact with the dream.

"Jack!" North broke Sandy out of his dazed state as both he and Bunny attempted to rouse the teen, all thankful that Jack had dropped his staff during his fit; it wouldn't be pleasant to be zapped frozen by a half asleep Jack.

Jack awoke with a weak gasp, tears brimming from his eyes, the black sand overhead immediately turning gold before disappearing. Staring blindly ahead as he trembled and curled up on himself, Jack slipped farther underneath the covers as if to hide, small, incoherent mumbles falling from his mouth.

"Jack, Jack. Oi, it's over Frostbite, it was just a dream," Bunny soothed, his expression anxious, though all three of the Guardians visibly relaxed as Jack seemed to wake up a bit at Bunnymund's voice.

There was a long pause before Jack's mumbled, "Who you calling Frostbite, Cottontail," his voice hoarse with sleep and from screaming.

Bunnymund chuckled relievedly, leaning back, both he and North sharing a thankful look at the notice of Jack's _blue_ eyes, no matter how haunted they did appear.

"Guess the dreaming thing didn't work out too well, huh?" Jack chuckled softly to Sandy, a broken smile in place, the golden man in front of him displaying a look of guilt. "Hey, don't be like that, I'm fine, just some nightmares is all; everybody gets them," Jack stated airily with a wave of his hand; he wasn't fooling anyone with his put up front however, all could see how tired he looked from just the few minutes of dreaming.

"Where's my staff?" Jack asked suddenly, head whipping around in almost desperation, sighing thankfully as North picked in up from the ground, cradling the aged wood to his blanket-covered chest. "Thanks…" he murmured tiredly, before he tensed and stared up at North and Bunny, a fearful expression slipping in place as something occurred to him, something his dream had bothered to point out to him.

"Why…" he managed weakly, looking between the two of them, then to Sandy, before his gaze fell to the ground. "Why would you help me? I-I betrayed you…" Jack drifted off, hands tightening into a borderline painful grip on the staff in his hands.

"You were not in the best of mind, Jack." North murmured, a large hand clapping down reassuringly on the teen's shoulder, the pale boy looking up with a pained look in his eyes. "Pitch was manipulating you, we all saw it," North added, memory of a golden eyed Jack smirking down at them flashing through his mind.

"But…even before that…" Jack murmured, gritting his teeth and looking between Bunnymund and Sandy. "I failed you both, I couldn't do anything a-and…"

"Oi, the past is the past, ya galah. You more than made yourself up by protecting Jamie." Bunnymund smiled down at Jack, before tilting his head to the side, staring thoughtfully down at the winter spirit. "He also told me what happened in his room; apparently you're horrid at drawing eggs, mate." Bunny flashed Jack a grin, a silent thanks passing between the two of them, Bunnymund knowing what would have happened if Jack hadn't stepped in at that moment and made Jamie keep believing in the Easter Bunny.

"Mm, sorry bout that, better at snow angels than eggs," Jack replied, his tired tone slowly slipping away, a teasing, carefree air building up. Chuckling weakly he then turned to look back at Sandy, the tiny man quickly flashing Jack a smile, trying to communicate for the teen not to feel guilty about the eldest Guardian's death, however temporary. Jack stared warily at the Guardian of dreams for a moment before sighing and nodding, smiling softly between the three of them.

"He was wrong…" Jack whispered quietly to himself, staring off into space, thinking back to Pitch's words of how the Guardians hated him, how they wouldn't accept him back at all; surely they couldn't be faking these reactions here, right? Jack gave a relieved laugh before he remembered something else, his entire frame perking and a broad grin slipping into place. Leaning over, he grabbed his hoodie and yanked it on over his head, beaming face poking out as he once again was in the security of his sweatshirt.

"I'll be back soon!" He declared happily, grabbing his staff and hopping to his feet, slipping between North and Bunnymund.

"Jack! Where are you going, you cannot be healed enough to-" North exclaimed worriedly, turning after Jack, eyes wide in surprise and shock at the quick change in temperament of the child before him.

"Jamie can see me!" was all he needed to exclaim before he burst out of the door, leaving behind the three Guardians, all sharing an understanding look; Jack had spent three centuries alone and unbelieved in, after all. Jamie, heck, _anyone_ believing in him for the first time in all his memory must have been something amazing, something he wanted to bask in the joy of.

The trio parted in an easy air, Sandy going to deal with his job of tending to dreams of sleeping children, Bunnymund going back to his hollow, and North heading off to check on production of toys; after all, Christmas was _only _eight months away. It was only their naïvety that allowed such a carefree air to exist around their parting. Such a thing would not be if they had known about Pitch's visit, or if any of them had glimpsed the black veins that were slowly creeping out from the scar on Jack's chest, the darkness below his pale skin shifting like restless water; or sand.

* * *

**A/N: **Next update may not be for a couple days, hopefully not a week, I've got two other fic concepts rattling around in my head and may start working on those as well, though I'll try to stay loyal till this is done. Not too many chapters left~


	7. Chapter 7

Jack stayed with Jamie for several days, the winter spirit ecstatic to finally have a believer. Fortunately for the playful spirit it was a weekend, so Jamie was able to give his parents the excuse of playing with friends as he spent so much time away from home with Jack. The human child and winter spirit spent hours playing in the snow drifts and simply sitting about, Jamie interrogating the teen about all sorts of things in his history.

The times ended, however, with the arrival of Monday and school, Jack bidding Jamie a goodbye with promises to visit next weekend, before the pale teen went back to his lake. It had indeed been here that he had been blasted into when the sand had knocked him back during the fight with Pitch. Jack gave an uneasy shudder before freezing over the gaping mouth of water, making it thicker than necessary for comforts sake.

Plopping down on the ice Jack sighed, relaxing, letting his eyes flutter shut, content to simply lie there. Half a day seemed to pass in a blink of an eye, the pale boy sitting up only well after night had fallen, a grin slipping in place at the far off sight of golden streams lighting up over the town. Rolling to his feet Jack took off into the sky, darting and weaving about through the dream sands' tendrils, joyful laughter escaping him as he flew straight through one stream. Golden sand splashed around him, sparking up to send golden birds flying around him before disappearing back towards a child's house.

Jack let the birds be, floating higher to seek out Sandy; a broad grin appeared as he caught sight of the golden disk high above the city. So hasty was he in his eagerness to see the revived Guardian did he fail to notice the birds he had unwittingly created shift; black nightmares soon appeared, the equine forms disappearing into the awaiting shadows as quickly as they had come.

The wind pushed Jack up towards Sandman, the tiny golden man raising a hand in greeting to Jack before sending more dreams spiraling down towards the sleeping children below.

"Hey Sandy," Jack greeted, hovering midair next to the eldest Guardian, watching as the golden sand moved about the town of Burgess; he tried not to think of how only a few days ago the only sand looming over this area were giant waves of nightmares, an involuntary shudder going through him.

Sandman sent out a few more tendrils before turning to Jack, a golden question mark appearing above the smaller of the two's head, gesturing to Jack's chest where the winter spirit had been stabbed.

"I'm all fine, don't worry, hundred percent better," Jack laughed, lying only slightly; if he still turned at sharp angles it ached something horrible, which was odd, considering it should have healed by now. Jack, however, had decided ignored such a fact, figuring it was simply because the blade had been something supernatural and made of sand.

Sandy sent a relieved look in Jack's direction, before tendril of golden sand spiraled from the Guardian, Jack's fingertips brushing the edge of it gently. Golden snowflakes erupted, falling slowly and mixing in with the actual snow Jack quickly summoned up to swirl beside their sand counterparts.

The two sat there, Sandy on his cloud of golden sand and Jack floating with help of the wind, watching golden and silver snow mix and fall slowly to earth, sandy's flakes eventually drifting off in the wind's keep to spread more dreams.

"Sandy...what...what was it like to die?" Jack murmured quietly after some time had passed, looking up at his companion with wary eyes. "I mean, did you die? What happened after you turned into dark sand? Was it painful? Or-" Jack's words came faster and faster, only cutting off as Sandy raised a small hand to silence him. The expression the other held was a mixed one; pain was certainly there, as was regret, though determination undermined all this, the other stubbornly planning to get Jack to understand what had happened.

With a wave of the golden man's hands a scene appeared between the two of them, similar to what the other used to communicate, though now projected out so both parties could see it. Two simple figures of Pitch and Sandy stood between them, and as Jack watched the taller of the two creations shot an arrow towards the smaller, a wave of sadness washing over Jack as he recognized what was going on. From there Sandy seemed to carve out the smaller, golden version of himself; like spilling ink a silhouette was cut out of the mini-Sandy, blank spaces indicating where the darkness had overwhelmed him. It moved up and outwards until the tiny golden man had apparently disappeared, consumed completely. Then whole scene shifted, and thin wall of sand appeared between Jack and Sandman, similar to a screen. Pitch and Sandy shaped holes were cut out of the wall, looking as if someone took a cookie cutter to it. Then, the two moved; it was similar to watching a movie, the sand's motions fluid and making the two figures look almost alive. Sandy was drawn towards Pitch, the smaller figures form soon breaking down and swirling into what appeared to be simply a mass of dark sand, before the scene shifted again. The cut out part of the golden screen, indicating the swirl of black sand that was Sandy, had never moved, though Pitch had. In front of the silhouette of the Nightmare King was Jack's own, tiny, golden form, the figure floating apart from the screen to show he was not consumed by sand. The winter spirit's eyes widened slightly as he realized this to be his moment of rage after Sandy was killed; the blankness of dark sand grew before his eyes before swooping down on Jack in a wave, the small form of Jack raising his staff and-

Jack looked away, pressing his eyes roughly against the palm of his hands. He remembered that fight clearly, how the surge of dark sand had moved forward in a wave, Nightmares leading the way; he remembered how he had somehow gotten a huge surge of power and had frozen it all, the ice creeping up to encase the whole thing and...

"I blew you up," Jack managed weakly, gaze finally looking up to see the golden screen had fallen, Sandy looking at the pale boy with a worried look. "I-I froze the sand and it blew up, I blew you up oh god..." Jack managed weakly, drifting into silence as Sandy shook his head, hands waving back and forth in a 'no no' manner.

With a wave of his hand the screen appeared again, and true to events Jack's golden form blew up the sand, the holes drifting down like snow. Then, however, they moved in one direction, reforming later on, and the silhouette of Sandy separated to stand besides Pitch. The sand then shifted, all silhouettes disappearing as instead it moved to form a clock, the hands spinning madly to show days passing by. When the scene appeared again it made Jack immediately touch a hand to his throat, eyes going wide.

The small cut out of Sandy had been drawn towards Pitch, and after breaking down into a shapeless mass it had proceeded to wrap around the tiny, golden Jack's throat. The winter spirit watched as the scene then moved to resemble something Jack had seen already, identical to when Sandy had shown him when explaining what had happened after the Guardian's revival.

"S-so you're telling me, you were part of the sand that Pitch made come out and choke me?" Jack gaped at Sandman in shock, the smaller of the two wearing a guilty expression. The pale boy's face turned down, into a scowl, and for a moment he could see Sandy flinch away, as if thinking Jack was upset at him. "I can't believe Pitch made you do that, I swear if I see his rotten face again..." Jack grumbled coldly, upset by the fact that the Nightmare King had forced Sandy to do such a thing; he could only imagine what it must be like, to be merely a consciousness in the sand, watching as you were forced to essentially attack and try to kill your friends.

Sanderson's face had relaxed as soon as Jack spoke, having realized the other wasn't upset with him, a tiny golden hand moving over to pat Jack's knee reassuringly. A scene appearing over his head of the golden man flinging Pitch around on a golden whip, the Nightmare King's tiny figure getting smashed repeatedly into the ground.

The image got a laugh out of Jack, the white-haired boy rocking back slightly in his glee, Sandy's expression clearly indicating how pleased he was to see the teen smiling again. Suddenly the Guardian started, an almost teasing glint appearing in his eyes before above his head an image of Jack appeared.

At first glance it appearing normal, though looking closer the winter spirit could see those utterly ridiculous shoes on his feet, the ones the elves had tried to make him wear. Besides this a question mark appeared, to which Jack shook his head, laughter abiding.

"No, I didn't put on the shoes, and I don't think I will anytime soon; even if the others were crazy enough to offer again to make me a Guardian, I won't." At the other's look of confusion Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You were with Pitch, Sandy; you saw what I became, how easily I switched sides. I'm not fit to be a Guardian," Jack shrugged, twirling his staff absently through the air, frost coming from the end to sprinkle more snow towards the ground far below.

Sandy sent an pouting glare to the other, images flashing quickly over his head, and while Jack couldn't tell _what_ was being said, he could guess rather well that the other disagreed. Sighing, the winter spirit waved the other's images off with a hand.

"Regardless, they won't offer it again, no doubt Man in the Moon is upset at me and won't allow it." Jack cast his gaze upwards, resting on the moon that was half full, a small scowl touching the pale teen's features. Sighing, he stared at it for several minutes, before movement from his peripheral vision made him look over.

Sandy was wearing an exasperated expression, arms waving silently as he tried to get Jack's attention, a tiny golden flag waving above his head. Chuckling, Jack raised an eyebrow, Sandy relaxing before pointing overhead, an image of North appearing. The tiny golden man pointed from Jack to the Guardian, the sand figure soon joined by a miniature Jack, a speech bubble forming between the two.

"What? Talk to North?" Jack asked, tilting his head, before he grimaced and flinched in guilt, sheepish expression sliding in place. "Ah...I said I would be back soon didn't I?" he chuckled weakly, Sandy rolling his eyes with an amused expression before nodding. The golden man floating to his feet once again and stood in the middle of his sand; in a few seconds the cloud formed into an airplane, signaling the dream keeper had to go as well, to move onto the next batch of kids.

Jack floated a bit higher and into a standing position, a beaming grin in place. "See you soon, Sandy?" He asked, flipping over once in the air, smile widening as the Guardian nodded his confirmation. Sanderson waved a hand in parting before flying away, a trail of golden sand chasing after. Jack watched the other go with a fond expression; Sandman had always been his favorite of all the Guardians, simply because he was the one Jack had seen the most and interacted with over his three centuries.

He waited till the golden tendrils drifted away completely before he twisted in midair, grinning towards the soft breeze that was holding him up.

"Hey, wind!" he yelled, not needing to say anything more as the breeze turned into a mighty gust, the pale boy laughing loudly as he was pushed back, tumbling and soaring higher in the sky, heading north.

* * *

Jack landed on one of the decks that connected to the upper floors of North's workshop, the pale teen thankful to see that the yetis had left the door connecting to the building unlocked. Slipping inside he ignored the trail of puddles he left as snow fell from his hair to warm on the worn, wooden floors, instead looking around in curiosity at all of the yetis at work. Pausing only to say a short hello to Phil, the yeti casting a suspicious look at the mischievous spirit, Jack wove in and out of the workstations, careful not to trod on any cookie-high elves.

He finally found North in his workshop, Jack rapping on the doorframe as he entered as to not startle the large man.

"Jack!" North exclaimed loudly, the Guardian turning to quickly grab Jack into a deadly hug, Jack letting out a squeak of surprise before he was dropped to the ground, panting slightly as he regained the ability to breathe once again. "Did you have fun?" the large man asked, turning back to whatever he had been making; from Jack's best guess it was some type of miniature viking ship, complete with a carved dragon's head and all.

"Oh yeah, it was a blast, especially since Jamie got six or seven others to believe in me too," Jack grinned broadly at the memory of the shocked kids' faces, the winter spirit hopping up on one of the few clear spots on North's worktable. "He had to go to school though so I'll wait till the weekend comes to go see him again," Jack nodded, though knowing he would probably break down by Wednesday and go visit the child, the glee towards having believers too large to be calmed so easily.

"That is good," North commented, blowing icy shards off of the work in his hands, a small 'hmph' of pride coming from him as he deemed it complete. Setting the sculpture down he moved to face Jack, a large hand patting at the teen's chest curiously. "All healed, mmh?" North asked, eyes locked onto Jack's with a protective scrutiny. Jack rolled his eyes, nudging North's large hand away.

"I'm _fine,_ North. One hundred percent better, believe me," he grinned up at the larger man, telling the truth for the most part, deciding not to worry the older man with small details; Jack figured those occasional aches and pains would simply go away in a day or so.

North gave him an apprehensive look before sighing, his normal smile slipping into place as he clapped a large hand on the pale winter spirit's shoulder.

"This is good. Come, I want to show you something," he said simply before tugging Jack from the room, the winter spirit's shoulder caught in the other's firm grip.

"Woah, woah slow down already, I can walk on my own," Jack half whined, half laughed. Huffing slightly North released the teen, Jack choosing to float alongside the older man as he went. The two quickly found themselves in the globe room, Jack drifting down to stand next to North, leaning on his staff slightly as he stared up at the thousands upon thousands of lights.

"What, the globe? North I've seen it before..." Jack looked up confusedly, watching the Guardian shake his head.

"No Jack, not the globe, the _lights_. All of these, if not for you, they would be out." North stared at the winter spirit pointedly before continuing, ignoring Jack's uneasy look that appeared. "You should not feel guilty of what you did while under control of Pitch; you now are you, and it was _you_ who protected the last light, you protected all of the lights," North made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm to the lit up world.

Jack looked after it with unseeing eyes, instead merely remembering the last time he had been in here, standing up there and displaying blatant betrayal to the Guardians.

He put on his best fake grin, smiling sheepishly up at North. "Heh, don't make it sound so glorious, North. I really didn't do anything," Jack shrugged before hopping away on a small breeze, perching up somewhere in the middle of the United States. Tapping his staff on one of the lights, he smiled softly, looking at it with unmasked fondness. "It was thanks to Jamie that Sandman came back, and thanks to you all that Pitch was defeated," he paused, shrugging. "I didn't do anything but let Bunny's eggs get smashed by Pitch." He murmured the last part to himself, a sad smile slipping in place, much to North's distaste.

"Jack-"

"Welp!" Jack cut over North's concerned words, a false, bright and cheery grin in place, one that was flawless and unable to differentiate from a real smile. "You better get back to your Guardian duties, doing what it is you do; meanwhile there's a snowstorm in Russia that's calling my name. See you around, North!" Jack declared in a hasty exit, not giving the man to protest against his excuse before zipping out of the room, swooping through the doorframe and towards where he had originally come in. He let the false grin stay like on until he left, guilty look swooping in to claim his face as soon as he swept into the cold embrace of outdoors.

He flew for some time, letting the wind carry him aimlessly, merely letting himself stew in the guilt that raced through him. Eventually he directed his old friend to take him home, Jack plopping gently down onto the frozen ice of his pond an hour later. Laying down he stared up at the darkening sky, the pale boy's eyes fluttering shut after a few minutes. He hadn't slept in days, not since the nightmares back at North's place, having been hesitant out of fear. He had meant to wait for Sandy to come before even attempting to sleep, but he was so tired...

* * *

Jack woke with a pained scream, clutching at his head as the echoes of 'worthless, worthless, traitor, foolish child' screamed in his mind. The pain only increased as a fiery ache flared in his chest around his wound, the pain unnaturally hot and sharp. It was as painful as when he had first gotten stabbed, if not more, this immediately causing the winter spirit concern. Panting weakly, he tugged up the blue sweatshirt and white blouse underneath, breath stilling as he saw the black veins creeping and winding around his torso. Unknown to him they had spread farther than before; now a good portion of his chest looked like a cracked porcelain doll, black, spiderweb cracks reaching as far as his hip a collar bones.

He froze, still as death as he stared at his chest, eyes widening as one of the tendrils trembled, before moving about a millimeter more. Shoving the edge of his shirt down Jack held his head in his hands, fear racing through him. _What's happening? Does this mean Pitch still has control over me? What's going to happen to me?_ he thought desperately, fingers digging painfully into his skull.

Over all the chaos, the echoes of his dreams, the pain and fear, and the unending questions, only one thought rang solidly in his mind.

_I can't tell the Guardians. _

* * *

Pitch smirked from where he watched in the shadows, able to sense from here the utter _deliciousness _that was Jack's fear. Watching the boy curl up on himself, he caught the teen whispering the words, "Can't tell them, can't...can't be alone again..."

Pitch's smirk twisted higher at the winter spirit's whimpers, pleased to see his nightmares planted by the sand twisting inside Jack were doing their job. With a wave of his hand in the winter spirit's direction he gave the sand instructions of how to construct the next night's dream, all the while his mind a mile away as he plotted. After all, it was only a matter of time before Jack would disappear, replaced by a creature of nothing but darkness and fear.

* * *

**A/N:** Ugh. Utter apologies on how late this is for me to update, I tried to donate blood and long story short my right arm is a tad...incapacitated, so I was forced to write 3/4 of this with one hand OTL So to make it up to you I humbly offer a shitty drawing of Jack Frost *gestures to profile once more* and this chapter. (Sorry again for how many days it took OTL) Also with the whole bit with Sandman's explanation, if anyone's confused just say so in a review and ill try to explain it/sketch it for you in more detail~


	8. Chapter 8

He hadn't even had time to calm down before he had to depart, Jack leaving Burgess as soon as he had seen Sandy in the distance. He bought himself some time by retreating to Antarctica, knowing few could or would venture here, let alone search the icy plains for him. A little over half a month quickly flew by in the immortal's eyes, Jack pacing about aimlessly and creating blizzards as he went, all the while repeatedly checking on the black veins that covered his chest. The black sand beneath his skin had consumed most of his torso as the fear Jack held increased, no longer simply veins that spread outwards. It looked like he had a gaping hole spawning from just below his ribs, starting right where he had been stabbed. It had progressed so far so that it had consumed the entirety of his torso; from the base of his neck to past his prominent hip bones, all he could see was a black expanse that had replaced the former porcelain skin. From the black canvas the spiderweb veins spread outwards in all directions, moving to twine past his knees and stretch down towards his wrists as well. He couldn't tell if the marks had spread to his face yet, though the aching pain that came with each hadn't spread higher than his neck, so he figured he was safe; for the moment. The darkness had also chosen to wrap around his sides, and Jack was unable to see what had happened on his back; for all he knew the entry wound on his back was doing the same as his front. This unknowing state only added to the fear he felt towards this whole situation, the winter spirit sometimes spending hours on end trying to twist himself round to catch a glimpse.

"Dammit...dammit..." he muttered on the seventeenth day, tugging his coat to stare at his once-pale chest, white fingers tracing along the veins that spread through his skin. Groaning in complaint, he flopped back into a snow drift and rolled around, as if holding a futile how that the white of the snow would soak up the black that was spreading within him. The teen had grown indifferent to the dull, aching pain that raced through his body with each span of the time that he spent here; now instead of being overwhelmed by it he used it to keep track of what parts of his skin were covered, and what was still him.

He sighed, sitting up from the snow drift and running a pale hand through his hair. Rolling to his feet, he moved over to where his sweatshirt and staff lay in the snow, Jack shrugging on the clothing before kicking his staff up into his grip.

Beginning to walk, he twirled his staff aimlessly through the air, a habit he had picked up since coming here. The wind, his old friend, tugged at his clothes, asking him again to fly with it; it had been weeks since the wind had been able to fly with it's ward, Jack having stayed land bound since arriving here.

It was only after a few hours did the immortal teen finally settle down, hopping onto an iceberg to watch the aurora australis, the polychromatic lights bouncing and reflecting off of the still-pale parts of his skin.

His body heavy with fatigue, having not slept since coming here, did he begin to relax under the twinkling rainbow of the lights overhead, not even realizing as he curled up in a snow drift, quickly slipping into sleep.

* * *

"Jack, I'm scared!"

Jack looked up with wide eyes; it was that voice, the same one that had lured him to Pitch's domain, the same one he had heard from his baby teeth case. In front of him was a girl, a few years younger than him, with straight brown hair and matching eyes. She seemed familiar to him; it was like something, or someone, was scraping away at a wall in the back of his mind, wanting him to remember something, a sense of deja vu emerging. His attention shifted, however, when he took in the whole scene.

Jack stared wide eyed in shock at the spiderweb cracks forming beneath the girl's feet, ice-skates wobbling unsteadily. Gaze dropping to his own bare feet, his eyes widened to see similar cracks spawning; Jack immediately wondered why they weren't freezing over like when he normally went on ice.

"Don't look down! Don't look down, just look at me," Jack found himself saying on instinct, looking back up at the terrified girl in front of him. It was as if someone had already written out the script for this whole scene, and he was blindly following along. "You're going to be fine, you're not going to fall."

He held out his hands carefully towards the girl, "I-In fact...we're going to have a little fun instead!"

"No we're not!" the girl cried in fear, tears leaking from her eyes, arms held out wide as she tried to keep her balance.

"Would I trick you?" Jack laughed from behind a false smile, trying to figure how to get them out of this situation.

"Yes! You always play tricks!" Jack mentally halted at this, wondering why this girl made it sound like she knew him so well; as far as he could remember, they had never met.

"Well, not this time. I promise," he found himself saying, hoping the voice didn't express his uncertainty. "You're going to be fine. You just...You just have to believe in me," he managed feebly, though something inside him soared as the girl gave a weak nod.

"You wanna play a game? Let's play hopscotch, like we do every day!" Jack exclaimed in false cheer, part of him wondering how he knew that, and who this girl was. He wasn't able to continue that train of thought as his body moved to the side on autopilot, following along to the pre-recorded script.

"It's as simple as one…" he took a wobbling step to the side, "Two…" Another step, this time a playful grin in place as he pretended to lose his balance, "Three!" Finally he was on thick ice, his eyes widening with a grin as he spotted his staff less than a meter away.

"Okay, your turn!" He exclaimed, keeping his eyes on the girl as he made his way over to the staff, knowing if he could get to it he could hook it around her waist and pull her to safety. The girl gave a wobbly, half step forward as Jack called out the number one, more spiderweb cracks appearing.

"It's okay, you're doing great! Keep going!" he cried in encouragement, grinning as his fingers brushed over his staff.

But that was when the dream shifted, the corners beginning to become tainted with the bitter scent of a nightmare, and the actions no longer had the odd sense of deja vu that had been picking at the back of Jack's mind.

The moment his fingers curled around the rough wood the air filled with the sound of cracking, of the weighted groan of the ice giving way. Then came the girl's scream, and she plunged into the watery depths below, the liquid pitch black, like ink.

"No!" Jack screamed, scrambling forward to plunge an arm in after her, trying to grab for the child; the water had other ideas, however, and he was _pulled_ in, head first into the inky depths. Unlike when he had first been born under the water, there was no light here, no moon shifting through the glass-like ice. It was only the dark, and the cold.

He struggled, the burning feeling of drowning clawing at his throat, ripping him apart from the inside; feeble attempts were made to get back to the surface but he was blind, unable to tell which direction was up in this frothing sea of darkness.

He screamed out, the sound distorted, and vaguely he realized he had been choking, drowning, for far too long, that this couldn't be real.

That small thought of reason was dashed, however, when the darkness parted, and he was able to see; as soon as he got his bearings, however, he wished he couldn't. In front of him was the child from before, her hair floating eerily in the water, eyes blank with death. Her previously rosy skin had faded to the crisp white of corpses, and while she appeared dead, her gaze was locked firmly on the immortal in front of her.

"You didn't save me, Jack. You let me die," she murmured in a quiet voice, the words not garbled by the water between them. "You failed, you nothing, you _monster_. You don't deserve this," she hissed cruelly at him, arm making a flicking motion to the side, and his staff was tugged out of his grip by some unseen force, disappearing into the darkness beyond.

"You killed me Jack, you weak little boy. See what happens when you try to help people? You can't save anyone, Jack. Not me, not Jamie, and especially not yourself. You aren't a Guardian, you aren't anything but an invisible, worthless troublemaker. No one likes you Jack," she paused, the tiny girl's face twisting into a dark and ugly sneer, Jack scrambling for purchase so he could back up.

"I can't imagine why they would choose _you_ to be a Guardian. Think about it," she paused, a low hiss of amusement escaping, dead eyes never blinking, never leaving Jack. "You can't _do_ anything. You let Sandman get killed, Easter was ruined, and without your precious little stick? You have _nothing_; you are nothing."

_N-no, t-they forgave me, they said I-_ Jack thought weakly, unable to get words past the burning sensation in his throat.

Despite the fact that he had only thought the words the girl seemed to have heard him just fine, cutting off his train of thought with a cold laugh. "They forgave you? What, you think that? Really? You think they are _so_ willing to look at you, with arms wide open with acceptance?" Her form slowly began to drift around him in a circle, predatorily.

"Then why not tell them about the blackness on your chest, Jack?" she asked in mocking confusion, another laugh escaping at the look of pain and guilt that flashed across the pale teen's face. "Because you know it's not true, don't you? Their sweet words of forgiveness; as soon as they find out what a little _freak_ you are, how damaged you are after one little wound…well, they'll just push you away again, won't they?"

_N-no..._

"Don't forget, Jack; they'll never accept you. Not really. They'll only use you until you become worthless. Oh wait," she paused, a finger coming up to tap her chin in mock thoughtfulness, "you already are. _See_, you can't even control your powers anymore." A low cackle escaped her as she pointed at him, Jack looking down to see ice coming from nowhere in the water, creeping up his limbs and holding him in place, no matter how much he fought and cried out. Then, the ice shifted, and it was black sand. It tore at his skin, and dug into his chest where he was stabbed, dragging him lower in the water.

"You are nothing, Jack. You always have been. Why do you think that you spent three centuries all alone? Because no one cares. Not really. They find you an annoying, weak, pathetic child, just another thorn in their side!" Her voice rose to where she was yelling at him, each word pounding and resounding inside his head. "Can you imagine it Jack? A millennia in the dark, and the cold… all alone. Even the wind will abandon you eventually…" the child hissed down at him, her dead form floating above him, haunted eyes staring down. "You are worthless, Jack Frost. And you always will be; a worthless, little invisible _nothing_. Never forget that."

* * *

Jack woke with a jerk, coughing and spluttering as if he had truly been drowning and not dreaming. Gasping, he looked around with wide eyes, trying to collect himself, all the while the girl's words from his dream echoing in his head.

_Worthless_

_Invisible_

_Nothing_

_And you always will be_

A broken sob escaped from him, the winter spirit hugging his knees to his chest. Tears spilled liberally from his eyes to freeze on pale cheeks, weak gasps replacing his normally steady breathing.

It was only when he felt a small pressure on his shoulder did he realize he was not alone; immediately whipping his head to the side, he stared up at Sandy in shock, the golden man simply floating there with a concerned frown.

Jack stared guiltily up at the other, momentarily thankful that he had put his sweatshirt back on and pulled his hood up before falling asleep, the black on his skin hidden from the other's sight.

"Oh, h-hey Sandy," he managed weakly, "What's up?"

The tiny man merely sent a disapproving look towards Jack before three images appeared over his head: a small figure of Jack, a globe with an arrow pointing to the South Pole, and a clock, the hands spinning madly to indicate lots of time passing.

Jack attempted a grin. "What can I say? I like it down here it...has penguins?" he tried with a sheepish grin, Sandy's expression clearly indicating he didn't buy it.

A sleeping image of Jack with little z's above his head appeared, the other's expression clearly wanting to know about Jack's nightmare.

"Oh it was nothing, just dreamt one of the polar bears I pissed off yesterday tried to eat me," he laughed weakly. Sandy's expression shifted into a frustrated one, small puffs of sand appearing next to his ears to show his anger and irritation with Jack lying so horribly to him.

Without waiting for any other type of pitiful explanation, Sandy had snatched Jack's staff with one of his sand whips; a large cloud of golden sand overwhelmed Jack as he let out a cry of protest to the theft. Soon it reformed to Sandy's airplane, Jack forcibly held in the impromptu backseat. Nodding in satisfaction, Sandy was all prepared to float into his pilot seat, ignoring Jack's upset cries to leave him be, when something happened.

Starting at the sand that touched Jack, or more importantly, the parts that touched a bit of the dark skin, the plane changed. Dark sand overcame the golden like a plague, Jack's efforts to break free only redoubling as the sand shifted to turn from an aviary form to equine. The winter spirit was bucked off as the sand below him turned into one of Pitch's mares, the beast letting out a unearthly whinny of rage. Without his staff he was unable to maneuver in wind that swirled around him, unable to do anything as he was thrown into a nearby wall of ice and snow. His head smashed against an icy outcropping with enough force that darkness began to fog up the sides of the teen's vision, the immortal vaguely registering as he felt something warm drip down the back of his head. Jack's limp form collapsed weakly into a snow drift, pain flaring through his body as he did so. The last thing he was aware of were the nightmares rounding to pace towards him, and the flicker of golden whips attempting to hold the pack off. Then the darkness of unconsciousness took him completely, Jack going willingly into it's cold arms.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sorry, that was mean of me.

Kekekeke


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Okay this is going to be a tad long winded, so you may want to merely skip over this little bit 'ere.  
So for those of you who read the last chapter within I believe the first ten hours after I uploaded it, you'd have noticed I had given Jack's sister a name; Pippa. Now, due to some conflict, both internal and complaints from others I went back and edited it so that she is/was merely nameless. This is due to the fact that I both knew and know that Pippa is not Jack's sister but instead Jamie's friend and this act of doing it even while knowing it just didn't sit well with me OTL sorry that is all  
Well, that's it then, apologies for the late update, been spending most week drawing corrupt Guardians for tumblr OTL  
Anyways, enjoy the, most likely to be, second to last chapter of this horrid tale

* * *

The equine forms quickly turned to pace towards the Sandman, snorting and tossing their heads as they passed over the ice with ease, hooves ghosting over the surface as easily as they may have if it was dirt or stone. There were five of them, and the Sandman cursed his luck as only four of them headed towards the golden man; the last did not slow its approach to Jack.

Sandy made quick work of the nightmares, a few slashes of his whips making them scatter long enough for him to revert the sand back to it's original golden form. Quick though he may have been, it wasn't fast enough; he looked over to see the dark nightmare reach Jack, the creature's held form melting away to instead change into a swirling mass of sand around Jack. To Sandy's shock and horror, he watched as the sand spiraled purposefully, before rushing to force its way around towards the back of Jack's limp form. There was no doubt a wound on the pale teen's head from how hard Jack had been thrown into the ice, a distinctive red smear on the outcropping only supporting this fact; the nightmare sand was obviously using that cut to get into Jack's blood.

The eldest Guardian didn't want to see what the end result was; cutting off a large part of the cloud from Jack with a well-placed whip, he destroyed the dark pieces before turning anxiously to Jack, knowing some of the dark sand had still managed to enter the immortal. The pale boy in question still lay on the ground, though now stared in front of him unseeingly, gasping madly and twitching. Sandy hovered back and forth in the air in worry before rushing to his side, eyes widening as he saw black veins quickly racing up Jack's neck and continuing up and over the winter spirit's jaw. The spider web thin marks slid along the sides of his face, as if tracing the path one would make when cupping his cheeks; it consumed most of his jaw line and was spreading towards his ears, only halting once it was resting parallel with Jack's nose. Glancing down, he also saw one of Jack's hands had become completely black, save for the tips of his fingers, and dark lines were almost to his ankles. Frowning in concern, Sandy tried to figure out how to get Jack out of there before his whole form seemed to perk; the golden man quickly created a small golden sparrow, the thing lifelike in every way, save for the fact that it was, you know, made of sand. After quickly giving it firm instructions the thing took off, merely a golden streak in the sky. Waiting the few seconds for it to disappear, Sandy sighed, hoping whoever the creature could reach at Santoff Claussen would be able to get them to come here, and fast.

While he waited, however, he attempted to tend to Jack, the Guardian careful not to touch any of the darkening parts of him, wary of what the reaction would be coming into contact with the corruptive sand. It was only after a single attempt of trying to move Jack with the aid of the golden sand, and getting out of it a small, miniature nightmare that he quickly cut down, that he decided to leave the teen where he lay. The eldest Guardian had feared coming into contact with darkened sand after having been shot and corrupted in turn by Pitch, and now was filled with more apprehension towards touching it after seeing what the black sand inside Jack had done to his plane.

He paused at that train of thought, eyes widening in a split second as he stared down at Jack; the plane had changed into the onyx nightmares before Sandy had seen the dark nightmare force itself inside Jack. That was before Jack had any of the corruptive black veins on him; wasn't it? Sandy stared down at Jack in mute horror, an inkling of understanding forming as he thought over why Jack had holed himself up down here in Antarctica. If something was happening to Jack...

A loud sound of displaced air cut into his thoughts, the sound joined by a rippling, polychromatic portal; it produced North, the large Russian coming through with swords drawn, prepared for whatever danger he thought Sandy had summoned him for. It was obvious that he certainly wasn't expecting the sight of the golden man hunched over Jack's limp form, the Christmas spirit's eyes widening at the sight; he made no comment at the black marks that had slid up the side of Jack's face, though his eyes said it all. Jack himself was still gasping for air like a drowning man, though the twitching had stopped, fortunately, a fierce trembling taking its place.

Not bothering to even ask Sandy anything of what happened, the large man scooped the shaking winter spirit in his arms. Balancing Jack carefully on one, North rummaged in his clothes for a moment before pulling out another snow globe, and Antarctica was soon empty again as the trio departed in a flash of multicolored light.

* * *

Darkness

It was the first thing he was aware of; it wasn't the good kind of darkness either, like the calming blanket that wrapped around you upon just waking up, the kind that held you close and tempted you to go back into the soft caress of dreams. No, this darkness was smothering, pressing down on his limbs in an uncomfortable heat, making it so something as small as moving a finger and toe seemed infinitesimally hard. He wanted to escape this darkness, this uncomfortable feeling of a forced unconsciousness, even more as he looked around in the depths of his mind; there was almost a bitter sense in the impossibly black corners, something he knew to avoid, to not go near, almost like a large neon sign screaming LEAVE THIS ALONE.

He attempted to reach out, to move something, to grab hold of an aid out of this darkness; in return it seemed he was only pushed down harder, a mute cry of frustration escaping him. He could think, sure, and his mental voice was loud as he complained, but he could tell he was not speaking, not with his true voice; this only irritated him further.

Time seemed to pass in this darkness, though whether it was seconds, minutes or days he was unsure, only that eventually he began to hear things. He hoped they were real, the muffled and garbled sounds, _voices_ his mind supplied, hoped that they were people outside of this unknown darkness; a spike of fear went through him when he entertained the thought of him being trapped in Pitch's nightmare sand again. This was whisked away though; he would have felt much greater fear by now if that were the case. He focused on the garbled sounds, trying to make more sense of them, make them clearer to understand, a small excited glee emerging every time the sounds got a bit clearer.

The first thing Jack was able hear distinctly was indeed a voice; it seemed familiar, but, however clearly the person spoke, he was unable to understand what they were saying.

_Oh god, my head's broken_ was his first thought, panic racing through him at the concept.

"How did that even happen?" an annoyingly familiar voice spoke up, Jack mentally groaning with the recognition.

_Even worse. My head's broken so that I can only understand annoying kangaroo. _

Cursing his luck, Jack struggled to shrug off the lingering traces of unconsciousness, blue eyes blinking open weakly in confusion.

His sight blurred for a moment before focusing; leaning over him were North and Bunnymund, both wearing identical expressions of relief, worry, anger, and holding a disapproving air about them.

"Mmm...Was'sup?" Jack slurred in fatigue, arching an eyebrow, before it all came crashing down: the past few weeks, how he had been avoiding the Guardians, his dream, and, more importantly, the fact that he was now shirtless, displaying his black chest for all to see. He froze, a wide-eyed, wary expression slipping in place as he stared up at the two above him, knowing he had been caught.

"Jack." North's voice was serious, an undertone of concern barely detectable; vaguely Jack realized the voice he hadn't been able to understand had been North muttering crossly in Russian, a ludicrously timed wave of relief going through him when he realized his head was, in fact, not broken.

"Mind explaining this?" Bunny cut in, the pooka's paw gesturing down at the winter spirit, or more specifically the darkness that covered his chest.

"Uhh.." was all Jack could manage, before noticing how the black lines had spread much more than before he had passed out; the winter spirit immediately bolted up into a sitting position, arms held out away from him as he stared in shock. "W-what the hell happened to me?!" He exclaimed loudly, voice cracking slightly, whipping his head to the side to stare wide eyed in fear. He perhaps had put the dramatics on a tad too much, putting as much uneasiness and fear into the expression, however he didn't want the Guardians to know that he had been like this for the majority of a month. The dramatics, however uncertainly Jack may have added them, seem to have done the job, Bunnymund and North's faces having shifted from serious and suspicious to unreadable gazes that hinted towards doubt.

"Jack, the nightmare...it has gone in your blood, and is spreading," North cautiously explained, Jack's eyes widening at the word 'spreading'; he immediately kicked off the thin blanket they had put on his lower half and hopped off of the bed and to his feet, staring momentarily at how far it had progressed down and past his pants' hem while he had slept.

"Jack," Bunny started, only to have Jack cut him off.

"Mirror," the pale teen demanded, a bit of true fear seeping into his voice; he could already guess what he looked like, able to feel the darkness that flitted up above his jaw a small bit, the burning sensation it brought with it a clear indication.

He wasn't sure who actually had done it, too engrossed in finding the few still-pale parts of him left, but the next thing he knew an oval mirror was being held in front of him, Jack snatching it up without hesitation.

He gaped at the veins that slid up the sides of his face, twisting his head left and right to stare at different parts of his neck and jaw. When he next looked to the Guardians in front of him it was with an honest plea for help, eyes holding a fear that seemed to consume him as much as the black sand did.

Whatever he had been about to say was lost, as the doors were thrown open and suddenly the mirror in his grip was dislodged by a mass of flying feathers. Tooth hugged the teen tightly, Jack unable to do much more than stare in surprise. "You're okay!" she exclaimed, leaning back with a wide, perfect smile, before a touch of sadness crept into her features, a small hand cupping Jack's darkness riddled cheek. "For the most part..."

"Hello to you Tooth," Jack finally managed with a soft chuckle of amusement, his mood lightening slightly as the fairy's nervous actions of concern.

Glancing over, Jack noted Bunny, North and Sandy talking, the latter having entered with Tooth apparently, the group talking animatedly in hushed tones about something, Sandy's symbols flicking in and out of appearance rapidly. Jack was then distracted as nimble fingers suddenly had pried his jaw open, Tooth looking fearfully into his mouth, no doubt to see if the darkness had spread to his teeth as well; it hadn't.

"Tooth, fingers out of mouth," North sighed from where he stood, Jack giving a thankful smile towards the Christmas spirit as the fairy quickly ejected herself from the winter spirit's personal bubble, an apology tumbling from her lips.

The thankful look wavered, however, when he saw the suspicious look that the three male Guardians were giving him, Sandy and North's holding a tad more concern than Bunnymund's.

"W-what?" Jack asked weakly, watching as symbols flickered over Sandy's head in rapid succession, to quickly to interpret.

North looked as if he was struggling with how to explain something, though Bunny cut in, staring warily at Jack.

"Sandy here says you had darkness in you before the nightmare went in you." The pooka crossed his arms, staring down at Jack with an arched brow. Sandy quickly backed this up with an image of a golden plane twisting and forming into a nightmare, a large question mark appearing over his head. Jack winced at it, knowing he had been caught, and knowing that his previous act of surprise to his appearance probably only made him look guilty.

"Jack?" Tooth asked nervously, flitting about in the air next to North, concerned look in place.

"Care to explain?" Bunny repeated himself from earlier; Jack grimaced at the four sets of eyes that were all on him before sighing and shifting slightly, hands clenching in the urge to flee from their criticizing gazes, wishing he at least had his sweatshirt hood to hide in.

"I-it's been like this since Pitch stabbed me," he finally managed, his words getting a reaction from all four of the Guardians; Tooth and Sandy held equal looks of concern, North of confusion and a tad of betrayal, and Bunny merely looked downright irritable.

"And you didn't think to tell us before now?" the pooka exclaimed in exasperation, a paw gesturing wildly in the air.

"I-I don't know?" Jack managed weakly, gaze dropping to look to the side, not wanting to see their reactions; regardless, he flinched at Bunny's next outburst.

"You don't know? Oh, isn't that great, he doesn't know. Anything else you _don't know_?" the pooka asked in an aggravated tone.

"No, alright!" Jack snapped, irritation having seeped in at Bunnymund's words. "You think I asked for this to happen? No!" He paused, a pained look slipping in place; the wind lifted him slightly so that he could shift backwards and up, Jack standing on the bed so he was eye level with the others. "You want to know why I didn't tell you? Because I'm tired of it! Tired of being pushed away and being ignored; invisible." His voice had raised slightly as he spoke, staring at them with a slight defiance, though now he hung his head, staring at his feet, though his tone still held some icy bitterness. "I've been alone for three centuries, and I've had to take care of my wounds _on my own _and I've always been able to do that fine. No one cared then so I figured..." he paused, shrugging, "why would anyone now? After all, I'm not one of you, and now that Pitch is gone there's no reason to keep me around; I didn't want to give you any more reasons to get rid of me..." he drifted off, not raising his gaze.

Part of his psyche was still damaged from all that Pitch had told him while he was under the dark sand's influence, and he still either agreed or feared with the majority of what the Nightmare King had said. It was true that he wasn't one of them; he had been left alone, left alone for so long and he had taken care of himself just fine over the course of the years, and no one had cared then. Why should they start now? Just because MiM had told them that they should let Jack into their über selective club? Not hardly.

He didn't look up until he felt a heavy hand clasp down on his shoulder, Jack looking up in fear of the group's reaction; unknown to him all this time the black lines on his face had slowly been creeping upwards, merely growing stronger as his fears were fueled.

"Jack, we would not push you away for such a thing," North attempted to reassure him, though Jack could see the hesitation in his eyes; in all of their eyes.

"It could have happened to any of us," Tooth added, flitting over to place a delicate hand on his other shoulder, Jack sighing and nodding in false agreement, a large part of him not convinced.

"Good. Now, we must find a way to reverse this," North stated with a clap of his hands, "Jack, come with me," he instructed, before striding from the room; the rest of the Guardians followed suit, Jack not oblivious to the wary look that Bunny cast on him, nor the concerned expression both Sandy and Tooth shared. Jack waited a few moments before sighing and following, only pausing to grab his staff and slip on the worn sweatshirt once more, feeling more secure once his hood was pulled up and he could pass for hiding from the world.

Floating from the room he made his way to the globe room, wishing that he didn't have to follow along but figuring it was the best room in all of North's workshop; he had the feeling, the _need_, to stash away somewhere, and the high, secluded balconies with the wide windows that were perfect for viewing the snow outside, well, it was practically screaming his name right now. He made his way over to North, the large man standing separate from the other three Guardians, an expectant look in place as he gazed at Jack.

"Jack, even if you are not Guardian yet, you are one of us," North started when Jack had come close enough for them to speak in low voices, Jack's face turning down in a disbelieving frown. "We will not push you away for this, nyet, you need not look concerned. We are merely worried about you, understand?" he arched an eyebrow in question, staring down at the smaller immortal.

"Kay," Jack murmured softly, giving the Christmas spirit the answer he wanted; behind the false smile Jack plastered on he didn't buy it for a minute; history had shown him otherwise.

North nodded in acceptance, clapping a hand on the winter spirit's shoulder once again before turning with a sigh and moving away to join the others' discussion.

The look of disbelief returned to Jack's face, the winter spirit quickly moving away from there; the wind picked him up and deposited him on one of the balconies, a touch of relief coursing through him as he plopped on a cold windowsill, watching the snow fall in heavy flakes outside.

_Oh I'm sure they are so worried _a cold voice suddenly sneered inside his mind; Jack froze in place, grip tightening uncomfortably on his staff. _Though the question you should be asking, Jack, is about what are they concerned? Are they worried about you, or simply another betrayal? _

"W-who-"

_Oh come, Jack, surely you haven't forgotten me so quickly? I _am_ the one you turned to after realizing the truth of those pathetic Guardians opinions of you._ The voice paused, Jack's breath hitching as he recognized the voice, the corruptive words behind it; after all, who could ever really forget the Nightmare King?

_We all know they would not have won the last time we fought; had you not had an abrupt change in alliances, they surely would be no more. They know it too; and they fear it. I can taste it from here you know, it's practically rolling off of them in waves, the way they fear you'll come to your senses again go away, back to me. You can see it, can't you? The doubt in their eyes when they look at you; I told you before, Jack. They'll never accept you, not really._

"Stop it," Jack hissed softly, pressing his hands over his ears, Pitch's voice only laughing at his attempt to silence it.

_You think it would be so easy? Please, Jack; I'm almost insulted that you would think it would be that simple to silence me. _Pitch laughed lowly, and a low whimper of frustration escaped the winter spirit's lips, eyes darting around wildly, as if hoping to find something, some shadow, to blast at and make the voice go away. _I'm not there, Jack, there's no use trying to find me. Though, while you are looking around, why don't you bother to prove me correct, hmm? _the voice taunted. Jack's eyes widened in fear as he felt an invisible pressure on his skin, almost like someone was gripping his jaw; the pressure, he noted absently, was only where the black sand resided. His head turned against his will to gaze at the Guardians that still hung about, though the motion was a smooth and almost natural one, not the jerky action one would expect from being forced.

Sandy had taken off as soon as he could, having spent too much time here and looking for Jack, needing to go back and give dreams to kids. The others, however, were still mulling about; Bunny and Tooth were off in the corner, leaning over some archaic looking books that North had pulled out, _yeah like that would have any answers to help_ Jack mentally scoffed. The Guardian of wonder himself was glaring off into space, hand methodically stroking his beard as he thought, no doubt as well about Jack's little problem.

At first Jack wasn't truly sure of what the voice was getting at, but then he saw it; every few moments someone's eyes would flick over to him, their gaze full of apprehension and doubt, and all acting as if the other two Guardians weren't doing the same. _Don't you see, Jack? They don't trust you; perhaps they even think you did this intentionally. They expect you to fly away, to betray them again. Can you stand it Jack, for centuries to come? The fact that they will _never_ trust you again? So why bother having them pretend that it's otherwise? They despise you, Jack. _

"N-no they don't...they said that I made it up-"

_What, with the boy? Oh you made up _some_ of your betrayal, yes. But proved yourself a Guardian? No, of course not. Especially now since you kept that little secret about the darkness within you...no Jack. They no longer have trust for you; they never will._

"Shut up," he snarled in a pained voice, making sure to keep it quiet enough that none of the Guardians, Bunny especially, could hear.

_Oh, do you not like the truth? _Pitch laughed, and the pressure on Jack's jaw finally disappeared, allowing him to turn his head away from gazing at the three immortals below. _Very well, Jack, I'll be quiet; let me leave you with a parting gift though..._

Pitch's voice faded into cruel laughter, but soon it was joined, countless of smaller, quieter voices beginning to echo in his mind; while each was quiet their resounding noise echoed and resounded loudly within the confines of his mind. Jack gasped, fingers moving to scrape along his ears, as if hoping to break the surface and spill the dark sand that had covered them, to silence the newly arrived voices.

_Oh look its a brat, Worthless little brat, hee hee, who're you so weak, so weak. _The voices, the nightmares, laughed at him, too many insults and mocking words resounding at once for his thoughts to remain lucid. Jack's consciousness got swept up in the nightmares' voices in his head, unable to think straight himself. _Look at the little foolish sprite Pretending to be a Guardian? WEAK WEAK WEAK Oh so pathetic Stop lying to yourself Worthless little weakling Worthless Ha!_

"Stop it!" he finally screamed, not caring if this alerted or startled the Guardians in the room; he couldn't take it anymore, Jack pressing clenched hands to his ears in desperate attempts to shut the voices up, curling his knees up to hug against his chest.

"Jack?!" A voice echoed faintly through the voices' laughter, the pale boy looking up to see a concerned looking Tooth hovering in front of him. Her concern was quickly lost on him as the voices picked up her words, laughing and mocking the fairy.

_Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack? Ha ha she called you Jack! That's his name stupid! Oh is it? I thought he was too worthless to have a name! Worthless, worthless, worthless! _The voices started chanting in his head, the winter spirit attempting to silence them by screaming loudly within the confines of his mind.

The voices laughed at his attempt; Jack's breathing began to come in irregular pants, the immortal trembling and staring wide eyed at the Guardians that had come to stand around him. He barely registered their presences and worried looks, only paying attention as their and the voices in his head's words intertwined.

"Jack!"

_Worthless_

_Pathetic_

"-okay, Mate?"

_Weakling  
_

_Invisible  
_

"-you,"

_are nothing, don't forget it, Jack. They certainly never will._

With a yell of mixed terror, hurt and frustration, he unleashed his powers in a burst of emotion, sending the Guardians flying backwards, having being caught off guard by the sudden explosion of wind, frost and ice. Jack whipped upwards in the air, eyes flitting about anxiously; he resembled a cornered animal, shaky and looking for an escape.

_Run away, little worthless Jack. Why not, you're only a bother A bother? A bother! _The voices laughed, Jack letting a pained sound escape as he clutched his staff tightly and bolted from the room, the wind carrying him past the other Guardians and towards the door. Not even hesitating as he flew outside and into the wind and snow that whipped around. He moved forwards, needing to put distance him and the others, hoping that, with the farther he went, the voices would weaken too. As it was, the further he got from Santoff Claussen the fewer voices he heard, the number going from apparent hundreds to a few dozen at most.

_Run home, little Jack_ the voices hissed at him as one, Jack cringing and urging the wind to take him faster, further above the clouds. _Fly away, weak little boy._

* * *

Jack reached his pond in almost record time, the normally half an hour trip from North's workshop going by in only a few minutes; he landed rather ungracefully on the ice, merely curling up in a tight ball and ignoring the wind's anxious gusts around him. The voices had stopped speaking, merely laughing at him and making low hissing noises like static or snakes; regardless of what they were sounding like they drove him insane, the winter spirit letting out an enraged cry as he smashed his hands against the side of his head, as if hoping to whack them quiet.

"Shut up!" he screamed, not caring if anyone heard him; there weren't many that believed in him, but he knew that he wasn't too far from homes of some of his scarce believers, Jamie in particular.

The voices merely laughed at him, their mocking tones repeating his words back at him, twisting them into desperate pleas and teasing whines.

His fear was only increasing the more they spoke; both Jack and the voices knew it, though the former could do nothing to stop the fear that spread through him like liquid fire, fueling the black sand and the nightmares that dwelled within.

_You're scared, Jack Scared, scared Don't want to be alone forever, do you? Let go, let go Jack, we'll keep you company Company, yes Let go little winter sprite Weakling weakling Let go, let us take away the pain Take it away, Away_

Jack couldn't bear anymore, and in a fluid movement he crumpled down on the ice, falling unconscious; he was unaware as the black veins, which had been slowly creeping up his face all the while, had finally reached their final destination, bleeding into his eyes.

Then the darkness consumed him and he was no more.

* * *

Pitch stepped slowly out onto the ice of Jack's pond, a small, triumphant smirk in place. He looked no worse for wear, despite what the _oh so_ victorious Guardians had said about his defeat. If anything, he looked more powerful than ever, though perhaps that was merely because he was standing so close to Jack; the winter spirit practically had fear dripping from him in bucketfuls. Moving hesitantly, only so that he may not slip on the thick ice, he paced towards Jack's crumpled form; even from a distance his grin widened as he observed his handiwork. When he finally reached the lanky teen's side he gave no word, merely making an upwards-flicking motion with his hand, Jack's body following like a marionette to strings thanks to the sand that had consumed him. Pitch watched the immortal standing in front of him; despite Pitch's command to rise, for all intents and purposes Jack was still asleep, blackened chest rising slowly in shallow breaths.

Finally Pitch's calm patience could take no more, and a sneer grew as he spoke. "Time to wake up, Jack. There's work to be done. You surely wouldn't want to miss out, would you?"

Golden eyes flicked open, Jack staring mutely up at the Nightmare King; Pitch noticed the dark sand's work with a small flourish of pride, loving how the black veins had stretched into the white parts of Jack's eyes and wrap around the once-crystalline irises in an almost loving embrace.

A mischievous smirk then took hold on the only remaining pale part of the winter spirit, Jack looking up at Pitch with golden eyes, no hesitation in his response. "Thought you'd never ask."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **So...erm...yeah this is really late OTL sorry, what with the holidays, coupled with the fact I had to re-hunt down my muse, this doc was left unattended for a few weeks, though I finally persuaded my procrastinating ass to get this done, if not so you all wouldn't be disappointed in me.

Just a small thing first: I really kind of lost my muse for this story so this is the really rough beta version that I typed up over winter break, I just... /weep I'm sorry it's rough and choppy and a lot of you will probably be displeased with the ending, so perhaps it would be better for you to simply imagine your own ending, I'm quite sure it's better than what horridness lays below. Also, warning, I upped the rating to 'M' for character deaths.

But for those of you who do read this...a lot of you...are prolly gonna hate me after...like the first six paragraphs xD so I would simply like to say this now, in case (or more likely, because) some of you decide to get tired of my writing and leave before the end of the chapter: this is the last chapter of Make a Choice, and I would like to thank everyone who favorited, followed or reviewed; whenever I lost motivation to write this, reading some of the comments or having a little popup appear telling me that someone actually likes my horrid writing...well, I thank you all, truly the amount of people that have followed or liked this has blown me away. So thanks~

And now, without further ado, the final chapter.

* * *

Pitch smirked down at the corrupted spirit before him, adoring the unwavering certainty in the newly golden eyes as he gave his confirmation. He watched Jack seemingly test out his body, moving his toes, clenching and unclenching his fists and the like; Pitch knew that, despite appearances, it was the nightmares inside him that were moving, testing, getting used to controlling Jack's mind, body and soul. That, at the moment, there were _hundreds_ of the shadows and nightmares plaguing Jack, making him little more than a puppet; a very powerful puppet, albeit.

The dark sand within him seemed to recede now that Jack's mind and spirit had successfully been consumed; there was never any real need to cover Jack's complete form, the color change of his skin having been more to strike fear into the winter spirit than for any other purpose. The sand retreated to leave him once again pale as the snow he commanded, only a few visible veins stained onyx. The excess sand within him flowed out of his mouth fluidly, moving to swirl in the air before settling down and coating over the teen's clothing at the nightmares' command; Pitch had put older, more powerful nightmares within the boy, ones that had been with him for centuries and in turn knew how to command the black sand.

Only a few differences from Jack's original, non-corrupted form remained: a black ring around the still-golden irises, small, darkened veins spawning out into the white canvas of his eyes from there, as well as the way that shadows seemed to cling to the boy, contrasting greatly with his hair and golden eyes, making them seemingly glow. The nightmares' piqued curiosity by their new host and his power was evident; the winter spirit waved his staff slightly, a low chuckle escaping as frost and snow swirled around him. Spirals of frost clung onto his clothing and twined with the already present onyx sand; some parts of the hoodie lightening with an icy sheen while others were darkened to a pitch black with sand. Jack and the nightmares continued this for several minutes until they seemed to silently agree on the outcome, Jack ultimately resembling a much darker entity, one that perfectly agreed with his newfound loyalty to the Nightmare King.

_This time there would be no escape for Jack, no last minute switching of sides_, Pitch thought with an almost childlike glee as he watched the nightmares play with their newest puppet. _Though, to be positive, I have to break the boy's remaining psyche, tear apart any surviving part of the boy's precious soul..._

"Come, Jack; first we must prove your alliance to me."

* * *

Jack stood in the center of the room, face expressionless, ignoring the way that the sticky, stain covered carpet felt beneath his feet; he was indifferent to everything but the black sand that swirled in the air at his word. He was curious of it, having only commanded the frost and ice before, a pale hand opting to reach up into the slowly moving mass, smirking as the white flesh was stained red from it. The color of the sand was lighter than normal and had a slight scarlet sheen to it; Jack knew that was merely because of the act he had just committed, the onyx sand moments ago having been in the form of a blade. With a flick of his hand the sand spasmed, and, like a dog shaking its fur after getting wet, it vibrated violently, the crimson liquid flinging free to splatter all over the room. Smirking, he then mutely called it back; the nightmares in his mind having given him this knowledge, teaching him and coaching him in the ways of the shadows. The black sand moved to coat his staff, and with a small tap a sheen of ice covered it, keeping the sand sealed between the ice and wood.

Turning, he moved to stride across the room, a dark curl of pride lighting inside of him as he glanced back at his proof of loyalty to the Nightmare King. Hopping up onto the all-too-familiar windowsill, Jack gazed back at the prone figure lying on the floor, and the delicious crimson stain that had covered many surfaces of the human's domain.

"Bye Jamie."

* * *

Pitch watched with barely contained glee from the shadows as Jack slaughtered the boy; with that pestersome human out of the way, it not only assured the level of corruption in the once-pale youth, but also guaranteed that if Jack_ did_ somehow regain himself, he would be too broken due to guilt to do anything. He waited until Jack had traveled several blocks away from the home before shifting through the shadows, appearing before the corrupted youth. The winter spirit halted obediently in front of the Nightmare King, a triumphant look laced with pride lighting the youth's face.

"I did it!" he exclaimed gleefully, a dark smirk touching his already broad grin; Pitch smirked at the other's enthusiastic reaction, a grey hand placing down on the younger immortal's shoulder in an approving manner.

"Yes, you did, Jack. Well done," Pitch praised the other calmly, before tugging the two of them back into the shadows, quickly dumping them into his dark domain.

Jack floated besides the Nightmare King, Pitch choosing to stride versus melt into the darkness that dwelled in every corner. They moved in silence, even Pitch's cloak dragging across the ground a soundless action, not a single breeze to stir the gothic birdcages above. It stayed that way until they reached the metal formed globe, Jack and Pitch sharing equal looks of distaste at the thousands of chipper little lights beaming up at them.

The winter spirit floated to crouch down on the metal-made North Pole, staring down at the lights beneath him. "Your plan?" he asked, knowing that Pitch would not have corrupted him merely to then improvise; no, the shadow always had a plan, and a backup plan up each sleeve if things went wrong.

The Nightmare King's face split in a merciless grin, pacing predatorily around the globe, golden eyes reflecting the countless lights. "How smart of you to know that I have one, Jack." Pitch chuckled up at the teen before his gaze dropped down to four spots on the globe; the four points that each of the Guardians had made their bases.

"Your corruption was, however necessary, only the second step in an experiment; that _oh so _beloved Sanderson being the first." Pitch's grin faltered slightly at the name, sneering it out with plenty of venom. "Now, while the Guardians are unsuspecting, thinking that the rogue nightmares are their only problem and not I, is when we strike. After all," he chuckled lowly, "I had such a _horrible _defeat by them; I must be so weak right now."

Pitch cackled as at his words countless nightmares appearing, the equine forms surging about in a large wave, all clearly displaying their loyalty and submissiveness to the shadow; Pitch's defeat had so obviously been staged, the Nightmare King did wonder sometimes how the Guardians could be thick enough to believe him to be defeated by mere nightmares.

Jack watched with an unreadable gaze, absentmindedly reaching his staff over and freezing one of the nightmares; he did it so each piece of sand was frozen individually instead of as a mass, leaving the thing still alive, but certainly harder to kill. A small smirk touched the corrupted youth's face, golden eyes flashing with pride as he watched the altered nightmare. Then his head flicked to the side to stare at Pitch, Jack having noticed the silence that fell as the shadow had taken to watch his charge experiment.

Jack arched an eyebrow silently as an indication for the other to continue, which Pitch certainly took. "No, the next step, Jack, is to get rid of those pathetic Guardians. While I certainly could let them wither away like we attempted last time...it would be such fun to end them ourselves, would it not?" Pitch asked in mock innocence, before chuckling lowly and moving to pace around the globe again, hand absently brushing over the agitated muzzles of the mares.

"Though not all of them?" Jack asked, having the feeling this wasn't the case, else there would be no experiment with the sand, as Pitch had put it.

"Observant." Pitch gave a nod of his head in confirmation as he brought his hands forward, steepling his fingers against one another. "And correct. Sanderson and Toothiana, we can have a use for; the others? They are merely hindrances, nuisances, and worthless."

Jack nodded in understanding, shifting to once again crouch atop the metal globe, staring past his toes at the lights. "Who do we strike first?"

"Both," came the reply, tone dripping confidence. "You are powerful enough to fight on your own, and against that little fairy who loves to mother you? I'm sure it will be hardly any kind of fight; assuming it even comes to that. No, you will be dealing with her rather simply, while I..._convince_, shall we say, Sandman to rejoin our side."

"How-" Jack started, only to be cut off as the other held up a hand.

"All in good time, Jack. But first, a small present," Pitch smirked, and drawing a hand forward he tossed something to Jack; the winter spirit caught it, looking down with some surprise to see Baby Tooth curled up in his palm. There was no pang of guilt deep inside him, no regret as he thought about his old friend; the nightmares that dwelled within him ate that up as soon as it dared to show its face.

"Why?" Jack asked, holding the unconscious fairy up by her wings, confusion written plainly on his face.

"Come Jack, use your eyes." Pitch smirked, an expectant look on his face as a few fingers waved in a 'go on' motion; as soon as the digits moved Baby Tooth did as well, similar to how the Nightmare King had commanded Jack to wake back at the lake. The corrupted youth's eyebrows rose in surprise as the hummingbird creature gazed up at him, the normally violet irises now a onyx, small flecks of gold and purple appearing when the light hit them; she too, had obviously been corrupted to some extent.

"This will help to deal with that pestersome woman; I've already told the sprite what to do, you merely have to get her there, and keep the Guardians from interfering." Pitch explained in a cold voice, grey fingers moving to tap on the metal globe, brushing over where Tooth Palace was. "Soon the Guardian of memories will be no more; I expect you to guide her back here, do you understand? There is no room for error with this, we must not allow the other Guardians to be aware of what is coming."

Jack nodded obediently, floating down to stand next to the Nightmare King, Baby Tooth flitting about next to him. "Understood. Nothing will happen."

"Good," Pitch smirked, before continuing. "It may take time to deal with on my end, however, Sanderson is not weak; likely I will finish after you; hence you will have to cover your tracks if the Guardians pick up your scent. But then, they won't, _will_ they." It wasn't a question; it was a fact, a hidden threat tagging along if Jack screwed up this plan in any way. Jack was no fool, nodding in agreement.

"Good. Then, let us begin." Pitch stated, before the two were swept through the shadows, nightmares disappearing with them, and the room fell silent once more.

* * *

Jack and Baby Tooth emerged a little ways out from Tooth Palace, and with them a couple dozen nightmares, equine forms snorting and pawing at the ground at the sight of so many little fairies close by.

"So, what's the plan then, little one?" Jack asked, the next few minutes followed by a quick flurry of chirps and hand movements; a smirk slid on the corrupted youth's face as he deciphered the message, then, "Do you need a distraction?" Jack asked, and at the nod of the fairy's head he smirked. "Then we'll make sure you aren't disturbed," he hissed before tossing the corrupted fairy up into the air, Baby Tooth giving a chirp of confirmation before zipping off.

Baby Tooth made her way into the palace with a fair amount of ease, flitting into the lush mountainside among the swarm of her sisters, unnoticed in the large mass. It was only once inside the wide, open caverns did she find some difficulty; it took a few minutes but eventually she was able to weave up and around the long, hanging spires and quick flowing waterfalls, the corrupted fairy constantly alert to make sure no other of her kin spotted her in an off limits zone. A quick look around was all she took before flying off, darting through a break in a particular waterfall, one that no fairy dared to go near. Tooth, mild mannered, sweet Tooth, had snapped once in a fit of distress when a curious fairy had gone there after seeing it's mistress visit once; since then no one had dared to go near it, even when Tooth's watchful eye wasn't around.

Baby Tooth flew down a long, twisting tunnel, the only light being from some softly glowing ivy that grew naturally in the walls, poking out between patches of undisturbed moss. How long she flew she was unaware, only eventually she was greeted by a large set of wooden doors, intricate, ancient carvings covering the surface. Giving a chirp of pride at finding her goal she set upon the next arduous task; with a lot of tugging and a few, colorful tweets and twitters, she managed to get the door open a crack and squeeze herself inside.

Once again, it was not completely dark, the ivy growing plentifully in here, a sickly green light being cast upon the room. It was a large room, with various pools and ponds, similar to the normal, open aviary that the fairies all dwelled in. The only difference were instead of large, upside down spindles holding millions upon millions of containers of baby teeth overhead, there were large pillars that seemed to be carved out of the very mountain itself. In each of the ponds, small currents and eddies lapping at their edges, were small pedestals, each having different symbols carved into the stone. Resting on all were differently colored orbs, similar to balls of blown glass, only a small, tapered mouth atop each, the opening no larger than Baby Tooth's finger. Flickers of lights bounced sporadically inside each, making it seem like someone had shoved a bunch of multicolored, redbull-energized fireflies in balls and left them to sit. Baby Tooth knew what they all were though; not fireflies, but the physical manifestation of memories of all the immortals in the world, both deceased and present. Her mistress had once explained it that immortals were alive much longer than humans, and as such they would grow forgetful with their plentiful memories, so it was here they were kept. The vast amount of years was so large, mere baby teeth would not be enough to hold in all the memories; so instead these orbs were used, made similar to blown glass, but instead out of the baby teeth. Baby Tooth wondered absently why Toothiana had yet to place Jack's in here, though the curious thought was quickly drowned out by the darkness that swirled inside her, the few nightmares quickly directing her to find her goal.

It took several tries, though eventually she found the right pedestal; an iridescent, green and purple swirling globe sat atop it, the pedestal, along with three others, set aside from most of the immortals within the room, signifying the Guardians. Baby Tooth gave a chirp of pride at such a find, before flitting down to rest besides her mistress' globe of memories; from her side she unstrapped a vial, the thing only slightly shorter than her, and around as thick as her forearm. Despite the small size, however, the contents were plenty enough, nightmare sand packed in till the brim. Wiggling the cork out of the bottle, she carefully lifted the flask up into the air with her, hovering over Tooth's globe for a moment, before dumping the sand down and into the small hole at the top.

The effects were almost instantaneous, the black spiraling in with the greens, blues, purples and occasional flashes of gold, causing some to twist and darken, and others to change hues and positively _glow_ from within the dark. Pitch had explained to Baby Tooth that since Toothiana was the Guardian of Memories, she would be so very reliant on her so-called center. Her own fate was so very connected with that of her own memories, that it was her core; you corrupt the core, of which a person builds upon in life, then you corrupt all that they are, and ever will be.

Giving a small chirp of approval, Baby Tooth took off, zipping quickly back through the door, making sure that the gap remained so more nightmares could come back later and add further corruption; after all, it never hurt to have a little insurance that one would stay completely dark and corrupted. She sped out towards the main room, eager to see what the dark changes in her mistress were.

* * *

Jack had watched Baby Tooth go, then mutely waved the shadows forwards and took off into the air himself, on a slightly different course than that of the corrupted fairy. He flew low as not to be spotted by the lot of fairies above, nightmares in forms of onyx waves of sand flanking him on all sides. They continued on until reaching a low outcropping of the mountain, the group quickly being swallowed up and hidden by the shadows as they waited, prepared for any sort of signal of their interference.

"Stay," Jack hissed at the mares, before flying up towards the main area of Tooth Palace, completely silent in his travels. If Baby Tooth wanted a distraction to give her time, he would give her one.

He moved to the highest roof, looking out over the area with disinterested eyes, his mood only perking slightly as several fairies noticed his presence, a good size group coming over immediately to fawn over him. Before they could even reach him a quick wave of his staff had them all frozen, thunking down onto the roof's slick surface before sliding down and off; from there Jack didn't know or care what happened to them, though the thought of a largely growing pile of frozen fairy corpses made him grin.

It didn't take long, maybe a good five minutes and half a hundred or so fairies, before there was a very upset cry of "Jack!" from behind him. The corrupted youth smirked, pulling his hood up and turning in one fluid motion, beaming widely at the anxious Guardian in front of him.

"Jack! What are you doing?!" Tooth cried in distress, flitting about back and forth, the look on her face clearly one of disbelief. Her eyes seemed to run up and down his appearance, a look of mixed worry and relief apparent, noting both how Jack no longer had sand-darkened skin, but also had changed his appearance so drastically, looking far more like a dark, winter spirit than before. "Are you okay, Jack? You disappeared the other day we were all so worried-" she was cut off as she had to dodge a blast of frost, a look of shock appearing as she caught sight of Jack's face; both the golden eyes and look of loathing were things that made her back up, feeling that she was too close to the obviously upset winter spirit.

"Don't lie to me," Jack spat the words in cold amusement, slowly pacing around Tooth, staff held out in a warning for her to stay where she was. "Worried? You all? Perhaps. But about me?" Jack pause, a cold, foreign laugh escaping him. "Please, I'm not an idiot, Tooth. You all have never cared about me, only what I can do. Pity it took me this long to figure that out." Jack gave a dramatized sigh, before smirking over at Tooth, pleased to see the fairy holding a look of betrayal and hurt on her face.

"Jack...we _do _care! About _you_! You're our friend, Jack, please,_ please _don't make me fight you," Tooth tried to reason with the winter spirit, merely earning a roll of golden eyes.

"Don't worry, I have no intention of fighting you, or harming you for that matter." He paused, letting a relieved look settle on her face before continuing. "After all, Pitch would have my head." Jack flashed her a feral grin, all teeth and no humor behind it. "I merely wish to talk, and not have you run off squabbling to the others like some pathetic little weakling. Or, do you always need them to hold your hand for you?" he teased, not bothering to look at her, instead staring off to the side, watching as a few, barely noticeable nightmares made their way through the trees, snatching up stray fairies quickly and quietly as to not catch Tooth's attention.

When Jack looked back at her he could see he had pushed some buttons; irritation was clear in Tooth's rumpled feathers, and how her concerned look from before now held a hint of hostility. "What do you want, Jack? What has you so upset? You don't have to do this, you know; Pitch is wrong, he's just manipulating you, Jack. I'm here for you, Jack; I'm your friend." She attempted a smile, only managing a pitiful excuse for one.

Jack gave an amused snort, halting the pacing to instead perch atop his staff, peeking past bangs to stare down at her in amusement. "Oh, you're here for me? You're my friend? Huh, funny, don't remember seeing such a_ friend_," he spoke the word like it was the lowest filth one could find, "in my first three-hundred years. I don't remember seeing such a _friend_ all those times I was alone, ignored, or hurt. The other spirits, other elementals and other holidays, oh they hate me too, just like you do. I've had to fend for myself for _three hundred years_, all on my own, and not once did you care, or even bother to spare a glance my way. And now?" He paused, giving a weak laugh of disbelief, "And now you think we're _friends_? Just because you all tried to initiate me into your little club? All because the moon said so? Don't make me laugh." Jack stared down at her coldly, before pulling back his frost-riddled sleeve and looking down, as if checking a non-existent watch.

"Well, this chat was fun. But I think I've bought enough time. It really shouldn't take _this_ long." Jack glanced up at her, smirking. "Farewell, Tooth. Or, well, this side of Tooth." He made a mocking bow in her direction, standing precariously atop his staff.

"What are you talking about, Jack?!" Tooth demanded in worry, brow creasing deeper in her worry, before she gasped, hand moving to clutch at her head, violet eyes going wide in shock.

Jack let out a laugh of amusement, so very like his old laugh, though this held almost a wizened, older and darker tone to it. "Oh, what perfect timing I have; this'll be interesting," he mused, watching as Tooth's form began to visibly tremble. The Guardian looked up at Jack with fearful eyes before they rolled up, the woman passing out in heap on the ground, similar to how Jack had less than a day ago at his pond.

Jack and the nightmares within him watched with curiosity as Toothiana's transformation was very much the opposite of his; while his eyes were the last to be consumed, hers were the where the darkness seemed to come from. Darkness seemed to run down her face in a water-like motion, blooming out from behind her closed lids; her skin took on a darker tone, almost a greyish brown and nothing like her normal, rosy complexion. Feathers were the next to alter, only a few of what would be her hair remaining colorful, the rest fading to black. Those that did stay colorful seemed to brighten sharply, almost looking neon against the darkness it settled against. The darkness then went south, Jack watching in fascination as it seemed to soak into her feathers and turn them as well; lost was the purple sheen and brightly colored limbs, instead most fading in shades, her legs becoming a deep navy, and torso a dark green, save for a spot of brilliantly yellow feathers on her bosom. The large, peacock like feathers that fell behind her had faded entirely to black, and her once rainbow colored wings were mainly an electric green and black, slight undercurrents of azure blending in with a slight sheen.

Jack laughed as the darkness seemed to consume the fairy completely, the immortal youth flipping off of his staff to crouch curiously in front of her, a pale, frost covered finger poked her cheek impatiently.

"Wakey, wakey, little Tooth," he laughed, before starting and flinching back as the other's eyes flicked open upon the command. Her eyes had changed, of course, the formerly white part having bled black, and her violet eyes were almost electric and glowing, giving her a regal yet haunting and, if terribly honest, scary look.

"Jack," was all she murmured as she quickly rose, dark wings fluttering behind her unsteadily, as if trying themselves out for the first time, Tooth wavering slightly as she stood. The younger of the two immortals placed a steadying hand against her shoulder, to which she shot him a cold, though hesitantly grateful look.

"What now," she finally asked, her tone slow and calm, nothing at all like the normal and hyperactive Tooth; this only made Jack beam wider.

"Well, we have to get back to Pitch." Jack glanced up at the sky towards the sun, eyes flicking about and noting thankfully that the moon, and the man within it, had yet to rise. "For now, tell your fairies to continue on as usual; no need for you to lose believers and weaken, or to let the other Guardians know of your corruption. Yet."

Tooth nodded, before turning to a few fairies that had flown over while Jack had spoken, their own colors reflecting that of Tooth's corrupted form, a fact Jack noted with a bit of dark glee. Whispered instructions were given, Jack standing there with an impatient look as they spoke, until something suddenly collided with the side of his head. Looking over in shock, he relaxed as he saw Baby Tooth clinging his sweatshirt, a prideful look in place. Her colors were that of Tooth's original form, he noted with a small form of curiosity, though the dark eyes showed her corruption regardless of that. Jack wondered why, thinking over a few, nonsensical reasons absently, before a clearing of a throat got his attention, the winter spirit looking over to a waiting Tooth.

"Shall we?" she asked in a bored, imperious tone, to which Jack merely beamed and took off, staff clung tightly in his grip. "Try to keep up!" he cackled, before whispering to the wind to urge him forward, faster; while the wind no longer agreed with it's charges ways, it was still loyal to him, preferring to aid him in dark ways than to betray the young immortal and be responsible for his plummet from the sky.

* * *

Pitch had split off from Jack and some of the nightmares during the travels through the shadows, the Nightmare King instead coming out somewhere London. As soon as he stepped out of the shadows he saw the annoyingly familiar tendrils of golden light spiraling through the night skies to descend into childrens' dreams. He moved silently through the shadows, moving out only to see if he had located the dreams' source; eventually he got lucky. Sandy was flying high, golden cloud of sand perching neatly atop that large, oh what's the name clock tower, Pitch could never bother to remember or care to.

Moving quickly through the shadows, he perched atop the clock tower, the topmost part being completely shroud in either darkness or partial shadows. Momentarily he debated between a sneak attack on the golden man, or to take the cliché route and monologue a tad. While the latter option was tempting, he'd had plenty of time in the past to do such, and while such instances were kept short they'd proven to take time that he could not afford. Nodding at such a conclusion, he quickly sent a nightmare out as a distraction, the equine form on the opposite side of Sandy than that of Pitch, the Guardian, sure enough, immediately turning and lashing out with a golden whip as soon as he spotted the horse shaped beast.

The moment Sanderson's back was turned Pitch made no hesitation; mounting a nightmare quickly he rose to a proper height, an arrow forming between outstretched hands. It seems he was too slow to act, however, something alerting the Sandman of the threat to him, for the next moment an all too familiar golden whip was around his wrists and he was tugged forcefully from the steed to whip through the night sky. Letting out a choked off snarl, his hands twisted to grab onto the golden whip; darkness seeped from his fingers and shock was written clearly on his opponent's face, Sandy immediately releasing the whip, onyx sand quickly consuming the gold.

"Well, well, Sandman. So we meet again. Surprised to see me?" he chuckled lowly, now able to float in the air on his own little cloud of sand as well, thanks to the broken down forms of the nightmare and whip.

Symbols began flashing angrily over the golden man's head, Pitch giving a roll of his eyes and gave up attempting to decipher the small forms as the speed became too rapid to follow.

"Come now, you know I never did care for charades, Sanderson." Pitch flashed a feral grin at Sandy. His initial plan had failed, oh well, he never really put merit into sneak attacks, always did seem a bit, oddly enough, expected; no, he had come with a back up plan in mind, in case such a situation played out. Letting a calculating look take over his face, fingers steepling in front of him as he spoke. "I'm coming here to give you an offer, a chance to save one of your oh so precious Guardians," Pitch lied flawlessly, a small tilt appearing to his lips at Sandy's distressed expression. "I'll get to the point; after all, there isn't much time left," he chuckled, gesturing towards the clock below them. "First I _must_ ask: did you enjoy my little trick with Jack? It is all thanks to _you,_ after all. Had you not been corrupted...well, I wouldn't have anyone to test the next stage of corruption on. So I thank you, Sandman," Pitch drawled in a mocking tone, snickering lowly under his breath at the other's guilty expression. "Don't worry though, he's plenty fine now...locked up in his mind at the nightmares' command, you remember what that's like, don't you?" Pitch smirked at the furious glare the other adapted, tiny golden hands clenching into fists, a new set of whips appearing.

"Ah, ah, ah, don't act rashly; I know what you're thinking. But don't worry, I wouldn't _dream_ of hurting Jack now, such a good little puppet. Toothiana on the other hand," Pitch paused, relishing as the worry seeped immediately into the other's light brown eyes, "well, let's just say I have no use for her. Yet I have her in my hold; whatever to do..." he drifted off, smirking at the other. "Do you doubt me, Sanderson?" With a snap of his fingers a nightmare appeared from the shadows of the clock tower, fluttering inside it small fairies visible, the nightmare having just been at Tooth Palace with Jack.

Sandy stared at the beast in horror, a golden whip immediately moving in an attempt to smash it away and back into golden sand; unfortunately for him, it was the one Jack had experimented on, the golden sand scattering against the ice coated darkness. Shocked by such a development he tried again to the same effect, Sandy then turning to stare wide-eyed at Pitch, not knowing _why_ his sand wasn't working, simply that it _wasn't_. Pitch greeted the look with a smirk, then, "You know what I'm going to say, don't you?"

A defiant golden stare was all that the other could give him, though the visible sag of his shoulders, coupled with the disappearance of the whips, was all the surrender Pitch needed to continue. "Yes; come with me, little Sandman, and she lives. I'll even promise not to hurt her," he laughed mockingly at the golden man; Sandy both feared and knew the darkness within Pitch, knew that the other could and would harm Toothiana.

Sandman made no move to dodge the onyx arrow as it sped towards him for a second time that night, merely putting on a peaceful look and gazing up at the moon in apology. A small spark of hope lit inside the golden man, musing that one day he would be able to be revived by kids like Jamie'd done before, but then the darkness consumed him and his kind consciousness was no more.

* * *

When Jack and company arrived back at Pitch's lair it was to Jack's surprise to see Pitch and Sandy already there, Jack immediately flying over to stare in curiosity at the corrupted Guardian, having not seen him like this last time he was corrupted. Like Tooth, only his coloring had changed, no real physical alterations visible. Where golden sand used to reside, onyx sand now made up the smaller man's body, hair a wispy dark grey; the only bit of non-darkness on him were the whites of his eyes and his irises, which still glowed a defiant gold. That seemed to be the only defiant thing about him however, his face only displaying emotionless fatigue; the ex-Guardian stuck close to Pitch's side, leaning sleepily against the Nightmare King.

"I presume all went according to plan?" Pitch asked, causing Jack to break the curious stare he was giving Sandy in favor of beaming up proudly at the Nightmare King.

"Yes. No problems whatsoever on my end. Baby Tooth? All went well, correct?" he asked, glancing to his shoulder, where the still-vibrantly colored fairy lay, dark eyes watching Pitch. The corrupted fairy shook her head in agreement before flitting off to hover around her mistress, Tooth still gazing about in a bored sense of curiosity.

"Ah, Toothiana," Pitch practically purred, stalking over to stand in front of the Tooth Fairy, a mock bow soon appearing from him. "How lovely to see you. And in such a state too...mm," he chuckled, eyes flicking up and down her corrupted form thoughtfully, trying to figure out if there was any sugary sweet goodness of the old Tooth left. He seemed satisfied with both her appearance and the cold look the woman gave him, turning to stride back towards Jack, a small smirk appearing as he looked towards the corrupted youth. "Yes, well done indeed Jack; now we can get along to the next step."

"Taking care of North and the Pooka, I assume?" Tooth interjected, taking to the air to keep pace with Pitch's strides, the shadow having taken to stride forwards, farther within his lair. Jack and Sanderson quickly followed; Sandy still held the emotionless expression, Jack hanging back to walk beside the sleepy ex-Guardian, curiosity obvious as he continued to inspect Sandy's changed form.

"Correct, Toothiana," Pitch replied with a smirk of approval. "Your little fairy there will prove most helpful for that," the Nightmare King gestured over to the vibrantly colored Baby Tooth, the small fairy having retreated to nuzzle down in Jack's brilliantly white locks.

"Baby Tooth?" Jack inquired, reaching a hand up to gently pet the corrupted fairy; no matter their alliances, it seemed the immortal teen had a natural fondness for the tiny sprite.

Pitch nodded, pacing over to the large, metal worked globe, grey fingertips dragging idly along the golden specks of light littered about its surface. "It was by no accident that I corrupted her individually; the other fairies are far too conspicuous, what with their altered colors. Her, however…" he drifted off, pausing to turn and smirk at the three behind him. "Well, it will be child's play to fool the other two Guardians, wouldn't you say?"

* * *

Bunnymund groaned, slowly coming to consciousness.

The Pooka shifted, raising an oddly weighted paw to his forehead, rubbing in an effort to dull the aching cries that pounded away inside his skull. Attempting to remember what happened he kneaded a knot in his temple slowly, memories slowly flickering to the surface.

_The Pooka had been in his warren when an anxious Baby Tooth had flown up, anxiously flitting about and tweeting, a few pantomimed waves of her hand having Bunnymund quickly racing off to Tooth Palace, not sure what it was that the fairy was distressed about, but figuring her home would be the best place to start asking questions. _

_ When he had arrived he was shocked to see things look absolutely normal, the rabbit sitting up on his haunches in confusion, looking around as if expecting to see a large neon sign bearing the words 'TROUBLE OVER THIS WAY.' It was then that he had noticed the off color of the fairies, how they seemed like a swirl of black and electric green, and how each had an aura around them reminding him of, well, Pitch. Bunnymund had cautiously made his way through Tooth Palace, silently keeping an ear out for Tooth, having noticed the place was void of her constant chattering to her fairies, the Pooka obtaining a sinking feeling in his gut as he wondered what could have removed her from her post. _

_ An odd sound then greeted his ears, Bunnymund immediately pausing, trying to connect the odd sound with a mental picture; it was barely in time that he did realize what it was, spinning around to see black sand rushing over the ground, directly for him. He quickly took off, hopping and sprinting about, leaping from place to place, a worried feeling appearing in his chest as every time he hid a fairy would tweet out his location, forcing him to flee from the onyx sand again. _

_ On one such tweet he cursed, pushing off of the ground to bound off once again, though found his feet meet no resistance; he fell through the shadows, moment later appearing in the center of Tooth Palace, Pitch looming above him, waves of sand swirling around them both, trapping the Pooka. _

_ "Pitch!" Bunny wasted no time, flinging a boomerang towards the other's head, a low growl appearing as black sand appeared whipped from somewhere behind the sea of sand, effectively grabbing the weapon and tossing it far away. Not wanting to disarm himself so easily, Bunnymund merely kept the other boomerang in its holster, rising up onto his feet, hand slowly moving to where he kept his eggs. "Whaddya want, Pitch," he spat the words disapprovingly, eyes narrowing further in distaste as the Nightmare King merely smirked. _

_"Ah, ah, really now, none of your silly explosives," Pitch stated snarkily instead of answering, black sand quickly surging up and around Bunnymund, closing him in an funnel shaped mound, effectively pinning his arms to his sides, only the Pooka's head able to move freely._

_ "Lemme go, ya whacker!" he demanded angrily, struggling, though froze as Pitch laughed; the laugh was different than how the Nightmare King usually sounded, instead making it a mocking tone, like he knew something blatantly obvious that Bunny didn't._

_ "Oh, even if I could I wouldn't; no, if you want to be free why don't you ask the one who is binding you, hmm?" Pitch had smirked, gesturing behind Bunnymund, the Pooka's head whipping around as much as possible, freezing in horror at seeing the small, darkened form of Sandy, apathetic expression in place on the small man's now grey face. _

At the memory resurfaced Bunnymund's eyes flicked open in alarm, a sudden need to bolt filling him. Immediately he tried to stand though it was to no prevail; the odd weight on his paws from before was in fact large, sand formed shackles, a dark chain disappearing silently off into the shadows. His ankles were bound as well, and all of his eggs and boomerangs were gone; all in all, he felt defenseless.

A groan caused him to freeze and, upon looking over, he blanched upon seeing North's crumpled form, the large man chained up similarly to the Pooka. "North!" Bunny hissed anxiously, hoping the Guardian was awake, all the while the spring spirit glancing about the room for an escape; all he saw was shadows, not even able to see the walls that had been eaten up by the darkness.

A grumble came, then, "Ja? Oh, Bunny, is that you? Where…" North looked up, a low, muttered swear in Russian slipping out of the white haired man's mouth, the Guardian immediately attempting to pull his way free of his bonds, to no prevail. When he realized this he curse again, looking at the other Guardian with a somber expression. "It was a trap. Little tooth sprite came, told me Jack was in danger, though when I went to burgess-"

"Lemme guess; Sandy and Pitch?" Bunnymund cut in, a serious tone in place, green eyes flicking about the other in search of injuries, having noticed a small cut on the larger male's head was bleeding.

North gave him a confused, before speaking again, though slower, as if choosing his words with careful consideration. "Nyet. Jack was the only one, him and the nightmares. They...he..." he drifted off, as if the thought was painful to think on. Then, finally, he spoke again, the words coming quickly and curiously. "What do you mean, that Sandy-" the man was cut off as a slamming sound came from the dark shadows to their right, bringing with it a chill and the shifting sound of sand.

"Oh good, you two are awake!" Jack exclaimed, floating into view, an excited grin in place; it was a grin like the one they were used to, though darkness and the shadows that hung on his face distorted it, making it much more threatening. "Pitch was wondering when you'd wake up. C'mon then," Jack made a beckoning motion with his hand before floating back out. North and Bunnymund only had a moment to glance at each other in horror, fearing what this all meant, before the sand formed shackles tugged them roughly to their feet in obedience to Jack's will, pulling the two males forwards as easily as if they weighed nothing. They were half-dragged after the winter spirit who spinning and floating carefreely in the air, Jack's buoyant attitude something that the nightmares had let him keep, merely his outlook towards things shifted now.

"They're up!" the corrupted youth called after a few minutes of walking- or rather a combination of Jack floating and the other two being tugged along against their will, the trio entering a large room. North and Bunnymund gaped at the apparent thousands of birdcages that hung from the ceiling, the large, heavy chains disappearing into the gaping mouth of shadows and darkness that littered the place. They both stiffened as much as possible when they spotted Tooth, the instinctual reaction hindered by the jerky actions of being tugged along, the two instead staring in horror at the female, Toothiana gazing down at them from her perch upon a cage. After a moment she fluttered down, black and violet eyes watching the two men in curiosity, though she remained silent, merely shifting to flit along besides Jack's hovering form.

"Are they now? How pleasant; it's not nice to sleep all day after all, even if you are guests," a voice called out mockingly from the shadows, responding to Jack's earlier comment; Pitch soon appeared in front of the group, the sand tugging the two Guardians along finally stopping at the presence of it's master. "How kind of you two to join us," Pitch sneered, steepling his fingers together and simply gazing at the two Guardians in front of him, paying no mind to his corrupted companions, Jack and Tooth having gone off to the side a bit where Sandy floated, all watching with either curious or thoughtful expressions.

"Let us go, Pitch. Let them go. So help me, when I get outta here-" Bunnymund snarled angrily, struggling against the sand, which had wound up around both him and North, holding them in place more securely than simple chains would have. Pitch cut him off, however, a cold laugh escaping him.

"When? Oh you foolish rabbit, you truly believe that you are going to make it out of here, don't you? And how, per say, do you plan to do that? Your so called allies," he paused, gesturing to where the other three stood, Sandman slumped against Jack, half asleep, and Tooth smirking coldly at the two remaining Guardians, "certainly have no plans to help you; they rather agree that we would be better off without you." Pitch chuckled lowly at the two of them, moving to pace slowly around their bound forms. "So that leaves us with the question, what to do with you? I have use for the others of course; remembering the bad things, fueling the nightmares and making the world cold and dark... But you two? I have no use for _wonder_ and _hope_," Pitch paused, a low chuckle escaping as he looked down at the remaining Guardians. "And while it would be lovely to watch you both wither away, little by little, we do have a schedule to keep." With that he turned away, not bothering to even utter a goodbye, merely walking over to the three corrupted immortals.

Bending slightly, he placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, cold tone hissing in the corrupted youth's ear. "You know what to do."

Jack nodded mutely with a smirk, twirling his staff in one hand before moving forward, Pitch's hand falling from his shoulder as the winter spirit strode to the bound forms of North and Bunny. The Guardians' efforts to escape only doubled as they saw the lanky teen prowling towards them, not liking how the, however tainted, familiar grin from before had been replaced, now only a cold, cruel look taking hold of Jack.

"Any requests for who's first?" Jack chuckled coldly, his free hand rising up lazily with a flick of his wrist, sand moving up to form makeshift gag on both of his prey, not wanting to hear any of the useless chatter the Guardians were bound to make. His other hand tapped the staff, the icy coating moving away to reveal the black sand, the mass swirling in the air around the two bound men in the form of a snake.

"Just make it painful, Jack. And make sure to ungag them; tortured screams are almost as nice as nightmares," Pitch laughed, striding away and disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

It was several days later that Pitch looked down upon some city, somewhere in the world; it didn't matter where, or who lived in the city. It didn't matter how rich they were, or their ethnicity, gender, because in the end all succumbed; they all succumbed to the fear. The world now was filled with darkness and shadows, with fear, nightmares, and icy cold that clawed at you as soon as you left the hellish nightmares of sleep to the nightmares of day. There were no more happy thoughts, no more daydreams, none that were happy at least; any of the happy memories you once had were lost, tainted and twisted so they left you with only mental scars and more fears for the nightmares to feed on. There was no hope, no wonder; such concepts had died days ago when Jack had killed the Guardians, ripped and cut them apart with sand and ice, leaving them as nothing more but myths lost in time. No, the world was a dark place, and there was nothing that could change that, not the pathetic little man in the moon, nor the humans that crawled around like the pathetic cockroaches they were; and, if you asked him, the world was better for it.

After all, who needs happy endings?

* * *

**A/N:** So, that's it~ again, thank you to all who have made it to you all, all those who reviewed you have a special place in my heart I thank thee~

Now a few, quick notes; Firstly, for any of those interested, (which I doubt) on my tumblr page under the rotg tag (the link is on my profile here on ffn), I have sketches of the corrupted forms of Tooth and Sandy, in case your imaginations want a little more fuel ;)

On another note, I originally planned to have more gore in this, (I do love gore =v=), namely the part where Jack proceeds to kill North and Bunnymund. However, I figured that some might not be comfortable with this, as well as the fact that it took away from how the story was flowing, seeing as I get a bit long winded and over detailed when I write gore, and the rest of the story I've kept rather quick paced and whatnot. Long story short, if the readers to request it, I'll post a short little tidbit (that will come up as another chapter in the alert box) that would solely be the gore scene, for those who wish to read it. If gore isn't your cup of tea? Well, end it here and now; believe in the antagonist winning, blah, blah, and etcetera. The next story I plan on writing may be fluff, or perhaps another dark one, maybe a happy ending this time? AU's, angst, romance, oh the possibilities are endless… v

Until next time U v Y


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